THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


^SELECTED  ESSAYS  OF 
JAMES  DARMESTETER 


THE  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  THE  FRENCH 
BY  HELEN   B.   JASTROW 

EDITED,   WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  MEMOIR 

BY  MORRIS  JASTROW,  JR. 

PROFESSOR   IN    THE    UNIVERSITY   OF   PENNSYLVANIA 


BOSTON    AND    NEW    YORK 

HOUGHTOX,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

<3T&e  fttoersi&e  prcs£,  Cambribge 

1895 


D37 


Copyright,  1895, 
BY  HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   &  CO. 

All  riglits  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghtou  &  Company. 


To 
ANNIS  LEE  WISTER 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


ALAS,  that  this  volume,  which  was  to  intro- 
duce James  Darmesteter  to  a  larger  public  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  appears  as  a  memorial 
to  his  career,  —  now  forever  closed.  At  the 
time  that  the  translator  was  putting  the  final 
touches  to  her  work,  the  sad  news  came  from 
Paris  that  James  Darmesteter  was  no  more,  — 
dead  at  the  early  age  of  forty-five.  Rarely  has 
the  death  of  a  scholar  aroused  such  general 
grief,  the  echoes  of  which  reach  to  distant  Per- 
sia. It  is  hard  indeed  to  bear  the  thought  that 
one  who  had  so  much  to  live  for,  one  from  whom 
so  much  was  still  to  be  hoped  for,  should  now 
be  lying  in  the  embrace  of  the  silent  grave; 
the  voice  that  spoke  so  eloquently  forever  hushed, 
the  mind  so  full  of  plans  for  science  and  hu- 
manity at  rest.  Death  came  to  him  suddenly, 
though  not  without  warning,  and  those  who 
knew  the  slight  frame  which  held  the  gigantic 
intellect  hardly  dared  to  hope  that  it  could  long 
endure  the  strain  of  ceaseless  labor,  of  ever- 
increasing  toil.  The  end,  as  described  by  one 


VI  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

of  his  colleagues,1  was  pathetic  in  its  simplicity 
as  well  as  significant.  On  the  afternoon  of 
October  19,  1894,  "  James  Darinesteter,  seated 
at  his  writing-table,  drooped  the  head,  heavy 
with  knowledge  and  thought,  on  his  frail  chest, 
and  vanished  from  among  us." 

With  him  there  passed  away  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  personages  in  the  world  of  contem- 
porary science  and  letters.  By  general  consent 
he  was  regarded,  after  Renan's  death,  as  the 
most  distinguished  scholar  of  France.  He  shared 
with  Renan  —  whom  he  affectionately  spoke  of 
as  his  "  master  "  —  marvelous  breadth  of  learn- 
ing, profound  originality  of  thought,  splendid 
literary  ability,  and  keen  sympathy  with  the 
problems  and  movements  of  the  day.  Like 
Renan,  too,  he  was  reared  in  humble  surround- 
ings, and  at  a  tender  age  learned  to  face  the 
struggles  of  life  ;  and  with  more  obstacles  to 
overcome  than  Renan,  his  ascent  on  the  ladder 
of  fame  bears  witness  to  his  strength  of  charac- 
ter as  well  as  to  his  talent.  In  the  touching 
memoir  that  he  wrote,  a  few  years  ago,  of  his 
elder  brother  Arsene,  he  gives  an  account  of  his 
childhood.2  James,  the  younger,  was  born  on 
the  28th  of  March,  1849,  at  Chateau-Salms  in 

1  Gaston  Paris,  Contemporary  Review,  January,  1895. 

2  Preface  to  Arsene   Darmesteter's  Reliques  Scientifiques, 
Paris,  1890. 


EDITOR'S  PEEFACE.  Vll 

Lorraine.  His  father  was  a  poor  Jewish  book- 
binder. In  1852  the  family  moved  to  Paris. 
It  was  the  ambition  of  the  parents  to  educate 
their  sons  for  one  of  the  learned  professions,  and 
amid  many  struggles  and  hardships,  the  foun- 
dation for  their  later  distinction  as  scholars  was 
laid.  Reared  in  orthodox  tradition  and  sur- 
roundings, they  were  initiated  into  Jewish  lore 
almost  prior  to  their  acquiring  secular  know- 
ledge. When,  finally,  James  was  enabled  to 
enter  a  Lycee,  his  extraordinary  ability  began 
to  display  itself.  Graduating  in  1867,  he  passed 
several  years  in  various  studies  and  in  laying 
plans  for  the  future,  before  he  finally  turned 
his  attention  to  Oriental  philology.  No  doubt 
the  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  of  Talmudic 
literature,  acquired  in  boyhood,  had  much  to 
do  with  the  attraction  that  the  literature  and 
languages  of  the  East  exercised  upon  him,  but  it 
was  the  distinguished  philologist,  Michel  Breal, 
who  first  suggested  to  young  Darmesteter  the 
thought  of  taking  up  the  study  of  Zoroastrian- 
ism  as  his  life-work.  The  ease  with  which  he 
acquired  the  mastery  of  languages  and  of  phi- 
lological method  was  astonishing,  —  an  ease 
that  led  his  professors  to  compare  it  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  children  learn  a  game.  The  very 
first  fruits  of  his  studies  assured  him  a  high 
rank  among  Persian  scholars ;  before  he  died  he 


viii  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

was  universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest 
authority  in  his  special  domain,  even  by  those 
who  were  not  prepared  to  accept  all  of  his  theo- 
ries. Besides  various  volumes  and  numerous 
essays,  embodying  the  results  of  researches  that 
have  greatly  aided  the  interpretation  of  Zoroas- 
trianism,  his  French  translation  of  the  Zend- 
Avesta,  with  a  commentary  (completed  a  little 
over  a  year  ago),  —  three  large  quarto  volumes, 
—  remains  as  the  most  enduring  monument  of 
his  vast  erudition.  This  production,  enriched  by 
a  series  of  essays,  in  which  are  summed  up  Dar- 
mesteter's  views  of  the  late  origin  and  gradual 
growth  of  the  sacred  collection,  forms  a  new 
point  of  departure  for  the  further  studies  of 
other  scholars.  The  French  Academy  honored 
itself  by  crowning  this  great  production  with  its 
prize  of  20,000  francs,  granted  biennially,  for  the 
most  noteworthy  achievement  of  French  scholar- 
ship. 

What  might  have  been  for  others  a  task  of 
a  lifetime  was  for  Darmesteter  but  an  incident 
in  his  career,  and,  unsurpassed  as  he  is  in  his 
specialty,  one  does  not  think  of  him  as  a  spe- 
cialist. He  entered  into  numerous  other  fields 
of  investigation,  and  his  activity  passed  beyond 
the  confines  of  technical  scholarship  into  the 
domain  of  modern  literature,  and  even  into  pol- 
itics. His  Persian  studies  led  him  necessarily 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  ix 

to  Sanskrit  literature.  His  excellent  classical 
knowledge  enabled  him  to  make  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  Latin  philology.  To  his  knowledge 
of  Aryan  languages  he  added  the  study  of  Se- 
mitic tongues.  The  work  on  "  the  Mahdi  " 
(published  also  in  English  translation)  gives 
evidence  of  the  mastery  he  had  obtained  in  the 
vast  realm  of  Arabic  literature. 

Even  when  dealing  with  abstruse  subjects,  his 
rare  powers  as  a  writer  were  shown.  Whatever 
issued  from  his  pen  bore  the  mark  of  the  literary 
artist,  and  so  it  is  not  remarkable  that  modern 
literature  exercised  a  strong  fascination  upon 
him.  Besides  a  masterly  study  of  Macbeth,  he 
published  a  volume  of  essays  on  English  litera- 
ture, and  edited  various  English  classics.  A 
poet  by  nature,  he  enriched  his  own  literature 
with  a  volume  of  poems,  in  which  he  unfolds 
an  exalted  conception  of  Christ.  Deeply  im- 
pressed by  the  poems  of  Mary  Robinson,  he 
translated  them  into  French  in  1888.  The  work 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  friendship  between  two 
kindred  souls,  and  led  to  the  perfect  union  which 
illumined  the  closing  years  of  his  life. 

Darmesteter  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  the 
sad  condition  of  France  at  the  close  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  war  afflicted  him  profoundly. 
He  gave  expression  to  his  burning  sentiments 
in  a  volume  of  "  patriotic  selections,"  published 


X  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

under  the  pseudonym  of  J.  D.  Le  Francais. 
Nothing  that  touched  the  thought  or  life  of  the 
people  among  whom  he  was  thrown  seemed  for- 
eign to  his  spirit,  and  he  found  time  while  on  a 
visit  to  Persia  and  India,  for  the  purpose  of 
gathering  further  fragments  of  the  Zend-Avesta 
and  of  studying  Zoroastrianism  at  its  source,  to 
collect  the  popular  songs  of  Afghanistan.  In 
an  extensive  work  upon  the  subject,  published 
on  his  return,  he  demonstrated  the  historical 
value  of  these  songs,  and  showed  that  the  lan- 
guage in  which  they  are  couched  follows  in  direct 
succession  to  that  of  the  Zend-Avesta.  With  all 
these  labors,  and  with  his  duties  as  professor  of 
Persian  at  the  College  de  France,  in  addition  to 
a  professorship  at  the  Ecole  des  Hautes  Etudes, 
he  found  time  to  perform  the  exacting  services 
demanded  of  him  as  secretary  of  the  Societe 
Asiatique,  in  which  capacity  he  published  yearly 
a  masterly  review  of  all  contributions  made  to 
Oriental  science,  by  French,  and,  in  part,  by 
other  scholars.  Even  this  did  not  exhaust  his 
boundless  capacity  for  work,  and  great  was  the 
astonishment  of  his  friends  to  learn  a  few  years 
ago  that  he  had  accepted  the  editorship  of  a 
leading  political  and  literary  review,  "  La  Revue 
de  Paris,"  to  which  he  made  several  noteworthy 
contributions. 

Endeared  to  his  soul  were  the  studies  of  his 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  Xl 

childhood,  —  Hebrew  and  the  subsequent  Rab- 
binical literature.  In  an  essay  on  the  history 
of  the  Jews,  he  outlined  the  great  epochs  in  the 
fortunes  of  this  people  in  such  a  manner  as  was 
possible  only  to  one  who  possessed  a  complete 
mastery  of  the  sources  for  this  subject.  But  it 
was  the  Old  Testament  rather  than  the  later 
literature  that  appealed  strongest  to  him,  and 
within  the  Old  Testament  it  was  the  Prophets 
that  answered  to  the  needs  of  his  own  religious 
nature.  In  the  course  of  years  he  moved  far 
away  from  the  lines  of  orthodox  tradition,  but 
the  echoes  of  the  faith  of  his  childhood  never 
ceased  to  stir  his  soul.  It  is  a  significant  phase 
of  his  career  that  in  proportion  as  the  philo- 
sophy of  his  life  grew  deeper  and  clearer,  the 
hold  the  Hebrew  Prophets  took  upon  him  grew 
stronger.  In  his  search  for  the  solution  of  the 
problems  confronting  the  present  age,  he  turned 
to  them,  and  found  in  their  stirring  utterances, 
when  freed  from  all  dogmatic  incumbrances,  the 
key  to  salvation  which  others  like  himself  had 
sought  elsewhere  in  vain.  His  essay  on  the 
Hebrew  Prophets  gives  us  an  insight  into  Dar- 
mesteter's  own  nature  which  no  biography  could 
furnish.  No  one  has  penetrated  deeper  than  he 
into  their  spirit,  and  his  ability  to  do  so  is  the 
outcome  of  his  intense  sympathy  with  the  moral 
struggles  and  the  moral  ideals  of  humanity. 


Xll  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

The  essays  included  in  this  volume  have  been 
chosen  with  a  view  of  illustrating  at  once  the 
many-sidedness  of  Darmesteter's  activity  and  the 
man  himself.  That  a  single  volume  could  not 
exhaust  this  illustration  will  be  evident  from  the 
sketch  given  of  his  achievements  in  the  short 
space  of  life  granted  him.  With  a  view,  there- 
fore, of  preserving  in  a  measure  the  uniform 
character  of  the  volume,  the  selection  has  been 
confined  on  the  one  hand  to  Darmesteter's  work 
in  Oriental  literatures,  and  on  the  other  to  such 
of  his  general  essays  as  are  more  particularly  of 
present  interest. 

From  his  Iranian  studies,  an  essay  on  Afghan 
life  as  illustrated  by  Afghan  songs  has  been 
selected,  which  the  author  himself  regarded  as 
one  of  his  most  satisfactory  productions.  The 
essay  on  the  supreme  God  of  the  Aryans  may 
be  taken  as  representative  of  Darmesteter's  mas- 
tery in  the  wide  range  of  the  Aryan  literatures. 
Passing  to  his  Semitic  studies,  the  essay  on  the 
history  of  the  Jews  has  been  chosen  mainly  be- 
cause of  the  novelty  the  subject  will  presum- 
ably have  for  most  readers,  for  whom  the  history 
of  the  Jews  terminates  with  the  capture  of  Je- 
rusalem by  the  Romans.  As  an  example  of 
Darmesteter's  marvelous  power  of  condensation 
in  literary  composition,  this  essay,  too,  is  a  note- 
worthy achievement.  In  a  compass  of  less  than 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  Xlll 

forty  pages  he  passes  in  review  a  history  cover- 
ing almost  as  many  centuries.  His  study  of  the 
Hebrew  Prophets  has  a  permanent  value  quite 
independent  of  the  possible  results  of  future 
researches  in  this  field.  Of  his  popular  produc- 
tions this  essay  is  likely  to  be  the  most  endur- 
ing. Alas  for  the  day  when  his  conception  of 
the  part  played  by  the  prophets  in  the  drama 
of  history  ceases  to  be  impressive!  Of  the 
more  general  topics  treated  by  him,  the  essay 
on  "  Race  and  Tradition  "  is  a  valuable  study  of 
a  pressing  problem  of  modern  science,  while  his 
memoir  on  Renan,  originally  prepared  for  the 
Societe  Asiatique  (of  which  Reuan,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  was  president),  may  be  expected 
to  aid  in  bringing  about  a  clearer  and  worthier 
conception  than  is  popularly  current  of  one  of 
the  master  minds  of  the  century.  Most  inter- 
esting of  all,  perhaps,  as  affording  again  a  pic- 
ture of  a  character  as  rare  as  the  mind  of  the 
man,  is  the  beautiful  essay  on  the  "  Religions  of 
the  Future,"  in  which  he  unfolds  his  conception 
of  the  part  to  be  played  in  the  coming  age  by  the 
two  forces,  —  science  and  the  prophetic  ideals, 
— upon  which,  in  his  judgment,  the  salvation  of 
humanity  hinges. 

Of  these  seven  essays,  two  —  "Afghan  Life 
in  Afghan  Song "  and  the  "  Supreme  God  in 
the  Indo-European  Mythology  "  —  were  written 


Xiv  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

by  Darmesteter  in  English,  which  he  handled 
with  the  same  ease  as  his  native  tongue.  The 
editor  wishes  to  express  his  acknowledgment  to 
the  editor  of  the  "  Contemporary  Review  "  for 
his  kind  permission  to  republish  these  articles. 
The  essay  on  Renan  appeared  by  special  ar- 
rangement in  the  "  New  World,"  translated  by 
Mr.  N.  P.  Gilman,  who  courteously  granted  the 
use  of  it  for  this  volume.  It  is,  perhaps,  proper 
to  state,  however,  that  the  translation  as  here 
published  is  somewhat  modified  in  form.  The 
remaining  essays,  forming  the  bulk  of  the  work, 
were  translated  by  Helen  B.  Jastrow,  who  de- 
sires to  express  her  acknowledgment  to  Mr. 
Simon  A.  Stern  for  having  kindly  examined  the 
manuscript  prior  to  its  being  sent  to  press,  and 
to  Mrs.  Caspar  Wister  for  her  most  careful  re- 
vision of  the  proofs.  It  has  been  the  aim  of 
the  translator,  while  clinging  as  closely  as  pos- 
sible to  the  original,  to  convey  to  the  English 
reader,  at  least  in  some  degree,  the  impression 
of  Darmesteter's  charm  of  style. 

It  is  perhaps  needless  to  add  that  when  Dar- 
mesteter touches  upon  questions  dealing  with  the 
religious  life,  his  views  are  not  such  as  may  be 
acceptable  in  the  nature  of  things  to  many  of 
his  readers.  It  is  possible,  too,  that  in  some  of 
his  earlier  productions  he  unwittingly  wounds 


EDITOR'S  PEEFACE.  xv 

by  a  certain  severity  of  expression ;  but  such  is 
his  earnestness  and  sincerity,  such  his  love  for 
humanity,  though  at  times  concealed  beneath  a 
self-assumed  mask  of  irony,  such  his  undying 
faith  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  what  is  good  and 
noble,  that  what  is  best  in  his  work  must  find 
an  echo  in  every  heart. 

Such  a  man  becomes  our  master  even  though 
we  do  not  follow  him  in  every  particular.  Per- 
haps, too,  we  should  remember  that  Darmesteter 
lived  in  France,  and  that  at  times  he  is  influ- 
enced by  the  special  conditions  prevailing  there. 
But  how  trite  this  limitation  appears  in  the 
presence  of  his  message  to  mankind ;  how  it 
vanishes  at  the  sound  of  the  voice  lifted  to  give 
hope  and  to  cheer  the  dying  century.  Ours  is  the 
irreparable  loss  that  this  voice  ceased  to  speak 
so  soon ! 

MORRIS  JASTROW,  JR. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April,  1895. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE 1 

THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL 16 

AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS 105 

RACE  AND  TRADITION 155 

ERNEST  RENAN 178 

AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS         .        .  241 
THE  SUPREME  GOD  IN  THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  MYTHOL- 
OGY                                                                               .  277 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 


FOR  almost  a  century,  France  and  indeed  all 
Europe  have  been  in  quest  of  a  new  God  — 
seeking  everywhere  for  an  echo  of  a  coming 
gospel.  And  they  need  this  gospel,  not  only 
because  humanity  needs  faith,  but,  above  all, 
because  it  needs  a  rule  of  life.  Every  religion 
that  is  engulfed,  though  it  be  for  the  ultimate 
gain  of  a  better  faith,  drags  down  morality  with 
it  for  awhile;  and  the  modern  conscience,  in 
uprooting  Christianity,  uproots  itself. 

Hence  the  wail  that  fills  our  age,  —  the  wail  of 
the  orphan,  who  no  longer  has  a  heavenly  father 
to  advise  and  to  guide  him.  It  is  heard  through- 
out the  century,  above  the  crash  of  wars  and 
revolutions,  above  the  triumphant  shouts  of  sci- 
ence, above  the  sarcasms  of  egotism  and  skepti- 
cism, above  the  incessant  bustle  of  life  pursuing 
its  course.  Rene  hears  it  at  the  dawn  of  the 
century  in  the  forests  of  the  New  World;  it 
reaches  Rolla  on  his  bed  of  debauch ;  it  ennobles 


2  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

all  the  poetry  of  the  first  half  of  the  century ;  it 
even  pierces  through  the  dry  literature  of  the 
Second  Empire  and  through  the  filthy  literature 
of  the  Third  Republic.  And  now  the  century 
at  its  close  begins  to  whisper  words  of  faith, 
wanders  in  quest  of  a  revelation  from  Ibsen  to 
Tolstoi,  from  Buddha  Gaya  to  Fiesole,  hails  in 
grandiloquent  tones  a  god  without  substance 
who  comes  not,  and  attempts  to  fold  its  hands 
for  a  credo  in  which  it  no  longer  believes. 

Twenty -six  centuries  ago,  in  a  similar  crisis 
which  shook  the  conscience  of  a  small,  half-civ- 
ilized tribe  of  Judea,  a  voice  cried : 1  — 

"  Behold,  the  days  are  coming,  saith  the  Lord, 
that  I  will  send  a  famine  in  the  land,  not  a 
famine  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for  water,  but  of 
hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord. 

"They  shall  wander  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
from  the  north  to  the  east  shall  they  run  to 
seek  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  not  find  it. 

"In  that  day  shall  the  fair  virgins  and  young 
men  faint  for  thirst." 

And  to-day,  too,  the  fair  virgins  and  young 
men  gaze  in  vain  from  sea  to  sea;  from  no  rock 
bursts  forth  a  spring  at  which  the  soul's  thirst 
may  be  quenched.  The  divine  word  is  not  in 
Ibsen,  nor  yet  in  Tolstoi,  and  neither  from  the 
north  nor  from  the  east  comes  the  light. 

1  Amos  viii.  11-13. 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE.          3 

II. 

Eeligion  is,  or  should  be,  the  highest  expres- 
sion of  science  and  of  the  human  conscience. 
It  was  this  at  its  origin  under  the  form  of  my- 
thology, and  by  its  divine  symbolism.  But 
since  it  is  the  nature  of  a  religion,  when  once 
organized  through  dogma  and  by  means  of  a 
priesthood,  to  become  fixed  and  hardened,  a 
time  comes  when  science  and  the  divine  con- 
science, incarnated  and  solidified,  stand  opposed 
to  science  and  the  ever-changing  and  progress- 
ing human  conscience.  This  is  precisely  what 
has  happened  to  Catholicism  in  the  course  of 
the  last  centuries,  and  consequently  it  is  at 
present  a  resisting  force,  instead  of  an  active 
and  progressive  one. 

Upon  the  awakening  of  scientific  thought 
at  the  time  of  the  Renaissance,  the  incompati- 
bility of  Catholic  dogmas  with  the  new  force 
soon  became  apparent.  One  may  well  believe, 
however,  that,  had  the  church  been  less  afraid 
of  the  new  force,  had  she  accepted  it  boldly, 
and  not  treated  it  from  the  very  first  as  an 
enemy,  the  divorce  would  have  remained  for 
centuries  in  the  domain  of  logic,  without  pass- 
ing over  into  reality.  The  church  might  have 
allowed  the  earth  to  revolve  as  it  chose  around 
the  sun,  without  endangering  either  the  Bible 
or  the  confessional.  Logic,  all-powerful  in  the 


4  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

realm  of  pure  reason,  is  indolent  in  the  realm 
of  practical  reason.  Man  never  knows  exactly 
what  he  believes:  he  becomes  conscious  of  his 
belief  only  under  pressure.  But  from  the  mo- 
ment that  the  church  threw  down  the  gauntlet 
to  scientific  thought,  and  endeavored  to  stifle  it 
under  the  weight  of  its  unjustifiable  assertions, 
the  outcome  of  the  imposed  conflict  was  no 
longer  doubtful,  and  the  mystery  of  dogma, 
forced  out  of  its  obscurity,  could  not  long  en- 
dure the  strong  light  of  the  enemy. 

Sooner  or  later  were  doomed  to  disappear, 
not  only  all  biblical  cosmogony,  to  which  the 
church  gratuitously  attached  so  much  value, 
but  also  the  essential  dogmas  of  Christianity, 
the  Incarnation,  the  Resurrection,  the  Mystery 
of  the  Mass,  — in  short,  all  the  "ecstacy  of  the 
cross." 

In  France  the  victory  of  the  Catholic  Church 
over  Protestantism  hastened  the  downfall  of 
Christianity  by  permitting  only  the  extreme 
parties  to  survive,  and  by  suppressing  the  tran- 
sitional stage  between  Christian  tradition  and 
the  modern  conception  which  the  happy  incon- 
sistency of  the  reformers  had  brought  about. 
Louis  XIV.,  in  revoking  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
revoked  Christianity  also. 

When  Catholicism  began  the  conflict  with 
science,  it  also  entered  upon  the  more  danger- 
ous conflict  with  conscience.  To  its  former  fear 


THE  RELIGIONS   OF  THE  FUTURE.          5 

of  truth  was  now  added  the  fear  of  justice. 
After  having  for  centuries  elevated  the  ideals 
of  the  West,  protected  the  feeble  and  suffering, 
introduced  a  modicum  of  peace,  order,  and  even 
of  justice  amid  the  barbarity  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  incited  individuals  to  marvelous 
deeds  of  devotion  and  charity,  it  remembered 
only  one  of  all  Christ's  precepts, — "Render 
therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Cae- 
sar's." And  it  allowed  Caesar  to  define  the 
rights  of  Caesar,  and  instead  of  strengthening 
justice,  believed  itself  called  upon  to  justify 
force.  And  when  the  dreams  of  human  equality 
and  fraternity  carried  to  the  Occident  by  primi- 
tive Christianity  were  about  to  be  realized,  there 
stood  opposed  to  them  a  church  with  anathemas 
ready  on  her  lips.  Thus  it  happened  that  the 
church,  driven  from  the  domain  of  science, 
was  also  expelled  from  the  domain  of  con- 
science. Not  having  known  how  to  direct  man 
into  the  way  of  right  thinking,  she  no  longer 
knew  how  to  keep  him  in  the  path  of  right 
doing. 

III. 

As  long  as  the  ardor  of  the  struggle  lasted, 
science  —  free  thought,  philosophy,  untrani- 
meled  investigation,  or  whatever  name  one 
chooses  —  triumphantly  presumed  to  take  the 
place  of  its  rival.  The  disillusion  has  come, 
even  before  the  completion  of  the  victory. 


6  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

Science  equips  man,  but  does  not  guide  him. 
It  illumines  the  world  for  him  to  the  region  of 
the  most  distant  stars,  but  it  leaves  night  in  his 
heart.  It  is  invincible,  but  indifferent,  neutral, 
unmoral. 

Let  us  leave  aside  practical  science,  which  is 
clearly  nothing  more  than  an  instrument,  and, 
like  every  instrument,  capable  of  good  or  bad, 
according  to  him  who  handles  it.  It  works  for 
the  devil  as  for  God,  discovers  melinite  as  it 
does  vaccine,  provokes  war  as  it  does  peace,  de- 
stroys as  well  as  creates ;  changes  the  amount  of 
good  and  of  evil,  but  not  their  proportion.  The 
other  science,  —  the  true,  the  great  one,  that 
which  labors  not  for  recompense,  but  is  an  end 
in  itself,  that  which  enlarges  the  soul  to  the 
measure  of  God,  which  dignifies  it  with  all  the 
beauty  of  the  universe,  calms  it  with  the  silence 
of  infinitudes,  —  what  has  it  to  say  to  the  man 
who  comes  to  it  in  search  of  guidance  through 
life?  Science  believed  herself  queen  of  the 
world,  and  when  the  dechristianized  Christian 
comes  and  says,  "  Thou  hast  blown  upon  my 
Christ  and  reduced  him  to  dust,  thou  hast 
closed  the  avenues  of  heaven  to  me,  thou  hast 
made  life  for  me  a  thing  without  object  and 
without  issue:  well  then,  give  me  something  in 
place  of  what  thou  hast  taken  from  me ;  tell  me 
what  I  shall  make  of  my  life ;  I  will  obey  thee 
blindly:  command,"  she  grows  disturbed,  stam- 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTUEE.          1 

mers,  and  recognizes  with  confusion  and  terror 
that  all  she  has  to  tell  him  is.,  that  her  great 
discovery,  her  last  word  upon  human  destiny, 
expresses  the  same  thought  that  had  been  hov- 
ering over  the  religion  she  has  condemned,  — 
"Life  is  not  worth  living."  Command  hu- 
manity! She  does  not  know  how,  she  cannot, 
she  dare  not,  —  she  would  lie.  What  orders, 
indeed,  could  she  give  him?  In  the  name 
of  what  power?  By  what  incoercible  need? 
Her  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  Her  king- 
dom is  that  of  raptures,  where  the  realms  of  the 
infinity  of  space  and  of  time  meet,  where  the 
eternal  panorama  of  the  fleeting  forms  of  life 
rolls  by.  It  is  the  glare  of  great  nature  which 
science  adores  for  the  moment,  before  it  falls 
into  everlasting  destruction.  And  when  hu- 
manity falls  at  the  feet  of  the  scholar  and  cries 
out,  "  Thou  art  the  oracle  of  God,  the  priest  of 
the  new  times!  Speak,  what  shall  I  do?"  he 
has  only  floods  of  bitterness  and  renunciation 
for  a  humanity  which  nevertheless  does  not  wish 
to  die ;  or,  indeed,  he  answers  the  distressful  cry 
of  the  simple-minded,  who  are  better  than  he, 
with  irony  and  the  contempt  born  of  volup- 
tuous counsels;  or,  feeling  the  impotency  and 
frailty  of  all  unaided  science,  he  beats  his  breast 
and  is  silent. 

Because  of  this  omnipotence  and  impotence 
of  science,  the  whole  moral  order  falls  to  pieces. 


8  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

All  the  principles  by  which  man  and  society 
live  are  called  upon  to  justify  their  validity  by 
convincing  proofs,  and,  since  they  do  not  rest 
upon  such  proofs,  they  are  condemned  and 
wrecked.  To  science  in  the  hands  of  the 
thoughtless,  everything  that  can  be  explained 
is  justified,  and  man,  emanating  from  the  brute, 
is  pardoned  when  he  returns  to  that  state.  In 
consequence,  the  idea  of  law  is  obliterated. 
Among  men,  among  all  classes  of  the  people, 
desire  regulates  the  measure  of  right.  Every- 
where is  seen  the  expansion  of  self,  bestial  or 
sanctimonious  ;  literature  is  given  up  to  these 
ruts,  and  the  extreme  refinement  of  intelligence 
leads  through  every  channel  to  the  unbridling 
of  the  human  beast. 


IV. 

It  is  clear,  however,  that  this  unbridling  can- 
not last.  The  modern  soul  is  better  than  its 
doctrines,  and  beneath  the  scum  on  the  surface 
the  fount  of  the  ideal  flows  on  as  deep  as  ever. 
The  soul  well  knows  that  this  cannot  be  the 
final  expression  of  the  emancipation  of  thought ; 
but  that  there  must  lurk  somewhere  a  dishonor- 
ing and  deadly  sophism.  The  impulse  which 
drives  a  part  of  the  young  generation  to  mysti- 
cism is  nought  but  the  first  reaction  of  con- 
science seeking  an  outlet  towards  the  pure  air, 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

—  a  sterile  reaction,  —  for  mysticism  is  death  to 
the  soul,  but  the  forerunner  of  a  fruitful  revolt. 
In  endeavoring  to  retrace  its  steps  and  bend 
again  under  the  yoke  which  it  had  broken, 
the  modern  soul  attempts  the  impossible.  It 
knows  that  it  cannot  abjure  science,  and  it 
knows,  too,  that  it  can  only  be  saved  by  an 
assertion  of  conscience  which  science  cannot 
dictate,  and  which  should  control  science. 

The  truths  that  would  save  us  are  not  far 
to  seek.  They  are  current  in  the  streets,  but 
anaemic  and  bloodless.  In  order  to  become 
again  living  and  triumphant  realities,  they  re- 
quire only  to  be  conveyed  to  us  by  a  voice 
speaking  with  authority.  The  one  heard  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  ago  is  hushed,  because  some 
of  its  words  are  repealed,  words  that  were  spoken 
to  help  men  to  die,  and  not  to  help  them  to  live, 
and  impotent  in  a  world  eager  for  justice,  for 
life,  for  light.  And  now,  behold  humanity  un- 
wittingly ascending  towards  the  higher  source, 
towards  the  misunderstood  masters  of  Chris- 
tianity, "whose  disciples  we  are,  we  all  who 
seek  a  God  without  priests,  a  revelation  with- 
out prophets,  a  covenant  written  in  the  heart."1 

In  turning  towards  these  men,  humanity  is 
not  retrograding  twenty -six  centuries;  it  is 
they  who  were  twenty  -  six  centuries  in  ad- 
vance. Humanity  was  too  young  to  read  them. 

1  Kenan's  Histoire  du  Peuple  ({'Israel,  vol.  iii.  p.  340. 


10        THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

But  they  could  wait  without  fear,  sure  of  the 
eternity  of  their  creed,  and  sure  that  humanity, 
in  its  march  towards  the  future,  would  be  forced 
to  retrace  its  steps  to  the  mountain,  and  pass 
back  from  Golgotha  to  Zion. 

V. 

The  purpose  of  prophecy  is  not  to  found  a 
new  religion,  nor  to  convert  the  world  to  Juda- 
ism. How  could  a  movement  intended  to  teach 
man  to  dispense  with  altars,  rituals,  and  myths 
be  supposed  to  build  up  new  altars,  new  rituals, 
new  myths?  As  for  Judaism,  if  its  right  to 
exist  is  due  to  its  feeing  the  depositary  and 
guardian  of  the  Bible,1  it  is  a  positive  reli- 
gion, enriched  by  ritual,  and  cannot  endure 
if  it  renounces  its  ritual,  nor  spread  if  it  re- 
tains it. 

The  role  and  the  mission  of  prophecy  is  not, 
then,  to  add  to  the  number  of  religions  and 
priesthoods,  but  to  vivify  the  two  actual  reli- 
gions which  to-day  are  struggling  for  the  mas- 
tery in  France,  and  to-morrow  will  be  content 
peacefully  to  share  her  between  them,  —  the 
religion  of  science  and  that  of  Christ.  Unity 
of  form  is  of  little  import  for  the  future.  This 
unity  exists  only  in  the  vision  of  imbecile  advo- 
cates of  outward  conformity,  the  Torquemadas  or 

1  Pascal,  Penstes,  xv.  15. 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE.        11 

the  Pobiedonosefs.  But  for  the  peace  and  the 
work  of  the  world,  there  must  be  a  communion 
of  spirit  beneath  the  free  and  graphic  opposi- 
tion to  forms,  so  that  the  churches  may  no 
longer  be  separated  by  the  "anathema,"  but 
march  on  under  various  flags  to  the  conquest  of 
misery,  of  vice,  and  of  sadness. 

Of  all  the  forces  bequeathed  to  us  by  the 
past,  prophecy  is  the  only  one  that  can  appeal 
to  both  religions,  and  make  of  them  two  sects 
of  the  same  religion  of  progress.  It  alone  can 
restore  to  the  church  the  breath  of  the  future 
by  investing  with  a  meaning  the  formulas  with 
which  it  started  out.  And  it  alone  can  give  to 
science  the  power  of  moral  expression  that  the 
latter  lacks.  For  the  letter  of  the  prophets  is 
in  the  church,  and  their  spirit  in  science. 

VI. 

The  spirit  of  the  prophets  is  in  the  modern 
soul.  It  matters  little  that  they  spoke  in  the 
name  of  a  God,  —  Jehovah,  —  and  that  the 
modern  age  speaks  in  the  name  of  human 
thought.  For  their  Jehovah  was  only  the  apo- 
theosis of  the  human  soul,  their  own  conscience 
projected  heavenward.  They  loved  everything 
that  we  love,  and  neither  reason  nor  conscience 
has  lost  anything  through  their  ideal.  They 
have  installed  in  the  heavens  a  God  who  wishes 


12        THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

neither  altars,  nor  holocausts,  nor  canticles, 
"but  that  right  shall  gush  forth  as  water,  and 
justice  as  a  never-failing  stream."  Righteous- 
ness was  to  them  an  active  force ;  the  idea  was 
converted  into  a  fact  before  which  all  other 
facts  pale.  By  virtue  of  believing  in  justice, 
they  advanced  it  to  the  rank  of  a  factor  in  his- 
tory. They  had  a  cry  of  pity  for  the  unhappy, 
of  vengeance  for  the  oppressor,  of  peace  and 
of  union  for  all  mankind.  They  did  not  say  to 
man,  "This  world  is  worthless."  They  said 
to  him,  "This  world  is  good,  and  thou,  too, 
be  good,  be  just,  be  pure."  They  said  to  the 
wealthy,  "Thou  shalt  not  withhold  the  laborer's 
hire;  "  to  the  judge,  "Thou  shalt  strike  without 
humiliating;"  to  the  wise  man,  "Thou  art  re- 
sponsible for  the  soul  of  the  people."  And  they 
taught  many  to  live  and  to  die  for  the  right, 
without  the  hope  of  Elysian  fields.  They  taught 
the  people  that  without  ideals  "the  future  hangs 
before  them  in  tatters;"  that  the  ideal  alone  is 
the  aim  of  life,  and  that  it  consists  not  in  the  glory 
of  the  conqueror,  nor  in  riches,  nor  in  power, 
but  in  holding  up,  as  a  torch  to  the  nations, 
the  example  of  better  laws  and  of  a  higher  soul. 
And  lastly,  they  spread  over  the  future,  above 
the  storms  of  the  present,  the  rainbow  of  a  vast 
hope,  —  a  radiant  vision  of  a  better  humanity, 
more  exempt  from  evil  and  death,  which  shall 
no  longer  know  war  nor  unrighteous  judges; 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE.       13 

where  divine  science  will  fill  the  earth,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  where 
mothers  shall  no  longer  in  bearing  children  suf- 
fer a  sudden  death.  Dreams  of  seers,  to-day 
the  dreams  of  scholars. 

The  spirit  of  prophecy  is  in  science,  but  con- 
cealed and  voiceless.  For  this  reason  anarchy 
reigned  during  the  interregnum  of  the  "Word," 
for  the  spirit  exists  and  operates  only  through 
the  magic  of  the  words  that  give  expression  to 
it.  In  the  beginning  there  is  always  the 
"Word."  But  the  utterances  of  these  old 
prophets,  though  most  ancient,  remain  young, 
and  the  new  age  has  not  yet  found,  either 
among  its  philosophers,  its  moralists,  its  poets, 
nor  even  in  its  manuals  of  municipal  ethics, 
words  with  a  magic  power  equal  to  theirs;  in 
their  speech  is  concentrated  all  the  tyranny  of 
conscience  and  of  the  ideal. 

VII. 

On  the  day  when  the  pulpit  of  the  Catholic 
Church  will  place  in  the  mouth  of  Christ  the 
words  of  the  prophets,  —  a  bold  stroke,  but  pos- 
sible without  a  renunciation,  since  it  involves 
only  a  mounting  to  the  source,  —  on  that  day  will 
the  church  take  a  new  lease  of  life,  and  be  able 
to  assume  once  more  the  supreme  direction  of 
human  society.  Although  its  life  appears  to  be 


14        THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

ebbing,  the  church  is  still  the  sole  organized 
force  of  the  Occident,  the  heart  whose  throbs,  if 
vivified  by  young  blood,  could  make  themselves 
felt  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Even  to-day,  in 
a  disabused  and  hostile  society,  the  moment  a 
word  of  goodwill  emanates  from  this  central 
seat  of  authority,  a  thrill  of  filial  expectation 
passes  through  the  whole  of  Europe,  —  Catholic, 
Protestant,  and  Infidel.  Since  there  is  no  longer 
a  pope-king,  the  papacy,  stripped  and  become 
in  a  more  striking  degree  the  ideal  and  imma- 
terial centre,  the  intangible  Rome  of  the  great 
Catholic  empire,  —  the  only  intangible  Rome, 
since  it  is  the  impalpable  Rome,  —  seems  to  feel 
that  humanity  expects  an  arbiter  in  the  strug- 
gle of  nations  and  classes.  Already  the  church 
timidly  tries  to  raise  its  voice  in  this  conflict, 
but  the  fatality  of  its  traditions,  stronger  than  its 
instinct,  shuts  it  up  in  a  circle  of  impotent  and 
superficial  formulas.  The  necessary  revolution 
which  would  change  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
without  changing  a  dogma,  a  rite,  a  priestly 
gesture,  would  also  restore  to  Europe  a  centre, 
an  arbiter,  a  guide  ;  would  make  of  the  church 
—  now  an  obstacle  —  a  living  force.  It  may 
be  that  a  disastrous  schism  is  necessary  to  bring 
this  about;  perhaps  the  genius  of  a  Monk  Hil- 
debrand  will  suffice. 

Christianity  has  received  its  formulas  from 
the  prophets,  but  it  has  dissipated  them  into 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  FUTURE.        15 

metaphors.  Will  it  be  able  to  recover  their 
meaning?  Thou  art  come  to  fulfill  the  pro- 
phets :  fulfill  them ! 

If  the  church  misses  its  opportunity;  if,  in 
the  name  of  an  immutability  which  is  simply 
a  fiction  of  dogma  contradicted  by  its  history 
from  the  very  beginning,  it  opposes  the  sum- 
mons of  the  future  with  a  Non  possumus,  — 
the  necessary  work  will  be  done  otherwise,  and 
with  greater  difficulty.  The  gain  which  the 
spirit  of  the  future  could  extract  from  this  ad- 
mirable instrument  of  unity  and  of  propaganda 
will  be  lost  for  the  work,  and  the  scientific  sect 
will  be  called  upon  to  assume  sole  charge  of  the 
world. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

THE  Bible  is  a  book  more  generally  respected 
than  known  in  France,  and  biblical  criticism, 
though  cradled  there,  is  a  new  thing.  Without 
going  as  far  back  as  to  Richard  Simon,1  the  in- 
genious Oratorian  who  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
problem  and  of  the  proper  method,  but  whose 
attempt,  stifled  by  the  too  cautious  orthodoxy 
of  Bossuet,  bore  no  fruit,  it  is  to  a  Frenchman 
to  whom  is  due  the  initial  discovery  from  which 
modern  exegesis  has  been  developed.  In  1753 
the  physician  Jean  Astruc,  professor  in  the 
College  de  France,  noting  in  Genesis  the  al- 
ternate use  of  two  different  names  for  God, 
Jehovah  and  Eloihim,  drew  the  conclusion  that 
our  Book  of  Genesis  is  the  result  of  a  fusion 
of  two  prior  and  independent  Geneses.2  Thus 
theological  and  edifying  exegesis,  which  is  in 
reality  a  form  of  preaching  sufficient  only  to 
a  faith  without  curiosity  and  without  intel- 
lectual disquiet,  gave  way  to  historical  exe- 
gesis, which,  through  teaching  us  how  the  texts 

1  Histoire  Critique  du  Vieux  Testament,  1678. 
a  Conjectures  sur  les  Memoires  originaux  dont  il  parait  que 
Mo'ise  s'est  servi  pour  composer  le  livre  de  la  Genese,  1753. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  17 

are  constructed,  gives  us  a  clearer  conception  of 
how  the  ideas  themselves  are  formed. 

Astruc  was  a  believer,  with  the  mind  of  a 
scholar.  It  is  a  long  stretch  from  Astruc  to 
Voltaire,  and  from  the  "Conjectures  sur  la 
Genese"to  the  "Bible  enfin  expliquee."  For 
all  that,  this  little  pamphlet  in  some  respects  de- 
serves a  place  of  honor  in  the  history  of  modern 
criticism.  Voltaire's  good  sense  was  too  pro- 
found ever  entirely  to  fail  him,  and,  amidst  the 
mass  of  puerilities  with  which  he  thought  suc- 
cessfully to  crush  the  Bible  together  with  Chris- 
tianity, he  struck,  without  suspecting  it,  the  very 
keynote  of  historical  exegesis.  Whether  the 
honor  of  the  discovery  be  due  to  him  or  to  his 
master  Bolingbroke,  the  fact  remains,  as  M. 
Renan  declared,  that  Voltaire,  a  century  before 
Reuss  and  the  German  school,  discovered  the 
exact  date  of  the  first  religious  code  of  Israel. 
In  "L'Examen  de  Bolingbroke"  may  already 
be  found  the  theory  attributing  a  portion  of  the 
Pentateuch  to  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  —  an  hy- 
pothesis which,  so  far  from  being  one  of  the 
boldest,  is  one  of  the  most  probable  of  the  mod- 
ern school.  A  whole  century  of  German  disser- 
tations, and  interminable  discussions  upon  the 
" Grundschrif t "  and  the  "Fragments"  have 
resulted  in  establishing  the  proposition  that  this 
dangerous  buffoon  casually  advanced,  and  Gav- 
roche  proved  to  be  a  century  in  advance  of  all  the 


18  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

German  universities.  Science  has  shown  Vol- 
taire no  recognition,  and  Reuss,  in  his  review  of 
the  history  of  exegesis,  does  not  even  mention  his 
name.  Justly  so,  for  his  unintelligent  genius 
perceived  the  truth  without  grasping  it ;  besides 
which,  he  enveloped  it  in  so  much  impurity  that 
no  one  thought  nor  cared  to  pick  it  out.  Science 
has  recruited  herself  .without  him  and  against 
him. 

What  biblical  criticism  has  come  to  be,  after 
the  patient  labor  of  nearly  a  century,  is  almost 
exclusively  the  work  of  Germany.  It  is  the 
result  of  the  unfettered  efforts  of  theologians, 
especially  of  Protestant  theologians,  for  they  only 
can  permit  themselves  the  happy  inconsistency 
of  reconciling  belief  in  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  religion  with  a  past  faith  in  the  author- 
ity of  revelation.  This  purely  German,  theo- 
logical, and  Protestant  origin  of  biblical  criticism 
has  imparted  to  it  its  triple  imprint,  and  is  per- 
haps one  of  the  principal  causes  of  its  slow  prog- 
ress. In  a  general  way,  it  has  lacked  suppleness 
and  proportion :  it  wished  to  know  all,  to  explain 
all,  to  define  all;  it  claimed  to  reach  the  primi- 
tive elements  of  formations  ten  times  modified, 
and  of  which  we  possess  only  the  residuum;  it 
applied  to  synthesis,  which  demands  a  sacrifice 
of  unimportant  facts  without  historical  value, 
the  niceties  of  analysis,  in  which  nothing  must 
be  ignored  or  neglected.  The  result  is  a  series 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  19 

of  complicated  and  obscure  structures,  with  queer 
corners  that  hide  detail,  and  with  but  little  light 
and  space  for  the  free  play  of  facts  and  the  cur- 
rents of  history.  Added  to  this,  theological  and 
Protestant  fastidiousness  superimposed  many  a 
burden  that  a  lay  science  would  have  ignored ; 
and  biblical  criticism  has  thus  often  been 
dragged  into  the  beaten  path  of  rationalism,  — 
that  weak  compromise  between  free  thought  and 
the  belief  in  the  verbal  inspiration. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  and  in  spite  of,  or 
rather  by  virtue  of,  this  slow  method,  the  Ger- 
man scholars  brought  to  their  task  an  amount 
of  patience,  conscientiousness,  and  religious 
reverence  worthy  of  admiration.  Every  word 
of  the  Book  was  considered  in  all  its  aspects, 
no  resource  was  left  untried;  and  those  who 
now  come  upon  the  scene  find  the  ground 
cleared,  the  material  gathered,  and  the  prob- 
lem of  biblical  origins  nearer  a  definite  solu- 
tion than  the  problem  of  the  Homeric  poems. 
Edouard  Reuss 1  and  Graf,2  his  pupil,  are  the 
two  men  who  within  the  last  forty  years  have 
given  the  science  a  definite  shape.  Although 
these  two  scholars  both  belong  to  the  German 
tradition,  there  is  some  satisfaction  in  remem- 

1  La  Bible,  traduction  nouvelle  avec  introduction  et  commen- 
taires,  13  vols.  8vo,  Paris,  Sandoz  et  Fischbacher,  1874-1878. 

2  Die  Geschichtlichen  Backer  des  Alten  Testaments,  Leipzig, 
1865. 


20  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

bering  that  they  are  both  of  Alsatian  origin, 
and  that  Reuss,  who  at  the  time  of  his  death 1 
was  the  head  and  master  of  biblical  studies, 
was  born  at  Strasburg,  and  was  professor 
there  for  fifty  years.  Eeared  in  the  German 
school,  and  having  written  nearly  all  his  works 
in  German,  Reuss,  after  the  disasters  to  France, 
remembered  that  he  was  by  birth  a  Frenchman ; 
and  when  he  came  to  sum  up  the  work  of  his 
life,  and  of  three  generations  of  scholars,  he 
chose  French  as  the  medium  for  his  admira- 
ble translation  of  the  Bible,  —  a  touching 
legacy  from  Alsatia  to  France,  doubly  precious 
as  a  mark  of  recognition  for  the  past,  and 
as  a  means  of  scientific  regeneration  for  the 
future. 

The  work  of  Reuss  and  of  his  school  paved 
the  way  towards  freeing  biblical  criticism  from 
the  thraldom  of  theological  and  scholastic  hier- 
ology.  It  is  fortunate,  both  for  biblical  criti- 
cism and  for  France,  that  the  latter  after  a  cen- 
tury of  neglect  should  have  taken  it  up  again. 
The  science  apprehended  by  Voltaire,  and  killed 
by  him,  has  been  restored  to  us  by  the  man  who 
bears  the  closest  resemblance  to  Voltaire,  and 
yet  differs  from  him  most  widely.2 

1  In  1890. 

2  E.  Kenan,  Histoire  du  Peuple  d'Israel,  5  vols.  8vo,  Paris, 
Calmann  LeVy,  1887-1893  [English  translation  published  by 
Roberts  Bros.,  Boston]. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  21 

Eenan's  "Histoire  du  Peuple  d' Israel, "while 
leaving  its  impress  upon  the  scientific  evolution 
of  France,  will  also  form  an  epoch  in  its  reli- 
gious evolution.  Force  of  circumstances  gives 
to  this  work  of  science  the  character  of  a  philo- 
sophical achievement.  In  this  case,  as  in  "Les 
Origines  du  Christianisme,"  and  even  more  so 
perhaps,  the  work  of  M.  Renan,  in  spite  of  the 
commonplace  and  superficial  criticism  that  pre- 
tends to  see  in  it  merely  the  irony  of  a  disillu- 
sioned mind,  is  the  great  constructive  work  of 
the  century.  Through  his  intellectual  grasp, 
embracing  as  it  did  all  forms  of  thought  and  of 
human  sympathy,  as  well  as  by  his  antecedents 
and  his  early  education,  M.  Renan  was  predes- 
tined to  show  to  France  and  to  the  Voltairean 
party  of  Europe  the  permanent  element  in  the 
gods  of  humanity.  Fully  to  understand  reli- 
gions, a  little  skepticism  is  necessary;  but  what 
is  also  needed,  and  to  an  even  greater  degree, 
is  the  imagination  of  a  believer.  For  the  first 
time,  religious  criticism  was  approached  in  a 
spirit  of  sympathetic  freedom,  in  a  spirit  of  in- 
telligence and  love.  The  scientific  weakness  of 
Voltaire  and  his  French  followers  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  were  not  fortunate  enough  to 
have  had  in  their  childhood  those  hours  of  nai've 
faith,  those  souvenirs  which,  as  years  go  on, 
suddenly  loom  up  amidst  the  tumult  of  reason- 
ing sense,  and  illumine  with  a  supernatural  light 


22  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  obscure  paths  of  the  primitive  mind,  where 
science  can  but  blindly  grope,  —  an  alien.  Woe 
to  the  scholar  who  approaches  things  divine  with- 
out having  in  the  depth  of  his  conscience,  in  the 
hidden  indestructible  recess  of  his  being  where 
the  souls  of  ancestors  sleep,  an  unknown  sanc- 
tuary, whence  at  times  rises  a  breath  of  incense, 
a  line  of  the  psalms,  a  pitiful  or  triumphant  cry 
that  as  a  child  he  may  have  sent  forth  to  Heaven, 
as  his  fathers  did  before  him,  and  which  brings 
him  into  instant  communion  with  the  prophets 
of  old. 

I. 

One  of  the  masters  of  modern  philosophy  has 
remarked  that  the  admirable  translations  scat- 
tered by  Renan  throughout  his  book  had  im- 
pressed him  for  the  first  time  with  the  true  spirit 
of  the  Bible.  It  may  be  said  of  the  entire  work, 
that  it  is  the  first  which  has  ever  enabled  one  to 
grasp  the  development  of  the  spirit  of  Israel. 
I  have  no  intention  of  giving  a  summary  of  M. 
Kenan's  book;  one  does  not  summarize  Herod- 
otus. I  desire  merely,  so  far  as  I  am  able,  to 
set  forth  the  consummate  originality  of  the 
work,  the  thought  that  pervades  it  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  constituting  its  novelty  as  well  as  its 
attractiveness. 

Its  novelty  consists  in  having  made  prophecy 
the  centre  of  interest  of  the  history  of  Israel, 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  23 

its  power  of  attraction,  in  the  unlocked  -  for 
kinship  existing  between  the  heart  of  the  pro- 
phets and  the  heart  of  the  twentieth  century. 
It  is  due  neither  to  the  historical  interest  of  the 
subject,  nor  even  to  the  genius  of  the  writer, 
that  this  purely  scientific  work,  which  does  not 
recoil  upon  occasion  from  the  driest  exegetical 
discussions,  should  have  fascinated  and  im- 
pressed even  the  critics  of  the  boulevard,  and 
given  them  a  momentary  glimpse  of  the  grave 
and  vital  problems  involved:  it  is  due  to  the 
touch  of  the  magic  wand  with  which  the  histo- 
rian has  struck  the  old  stony  text  and  caused 
the  entire  modern  soul  to  gush  forth. 

The  great  change  in  perspective,  which  the 
new  criticism  introduces  into  sacred  history, 
consists  in  making  the  central  figure  of  this  his- 
tory not  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai,  but  the  company 
of  prophets,  the  men  who  spoke  to  Israel  dur- 
ing the  last  two  centuries  of  the  Jewish  king- 
dom, and  during  the  Babylonian  captivity,  from 
about  800  to  536  before  Christ.  The  prophets, 
who  according  to  the  traditional  conceptions 
appear  in  times  of  defection  to  recall  to  Israel 
forgotten  truths,  are  in  reality  the  creators  of 
these  truths,  and  prophecy,  in  place  of  being 
the  flower  of  Judaism,  is  its  very  root. 

Prophecy  is  not  a  phenomenon  peculiar  to 
Israel;  all  the  ancient  nations  had  prophets, 
that  is,  men  who  spoke  in  the  name  of  God  or 


24  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

of  supernatural  powers.  The  prophet  differs 
from  the  priest.  The  latter  is  a  personage  with- 
out great  originality,  the  guardian  of  an  estab- 
lished ritual,  the  potency  of  which  is  not  at  all 
dependent  upon  the  personality  of  the  priest. 
The  prophet  is  the  man  possessed  of  God,  and 
through  whom  the  will  of  God  is  revealed  to 
men.  But  among  the  other  nations,  and  even 
in  Israel  in  ancient  times,  the  prophet,  seer, 
diviner,  sorcerer,  hypnotizer,  vacillates  between 
the  charlatan,  the  fool,  and  the  inspired  one. 
What  is  unique  in  Jewish  prophecy  is  that  it 
became  the  all-powerful  weapon,  not  of  charla- 
tans and  of  fools,  but  of  those  inspired,  in  whom 
the  mind  and  the  conscience  of  modern  human- 
ity found  their  first  successful  and  lasting  ex- 
pression. The  work  of  these  prophets  survives 
in  a  hundred  pages  of  the  Bible  and  —  in  three 
religions. 

The  material  weapon  of  the  victory  of  pro- 
phecy was  Jehovah,  the  national  God  of  the 
Jews.  It  is  possible  that  the  prophetic  move- 
ment had  commenced  before  the  definite  evolu- 
tion of  Jehovah,  but  it  was  through  him  that  it 
conquered;  and,  in  order  to  comprehend  the 
evolution  of  prophecy,  it  is  necessary  to  trace 
the  development  of  the  idea  of  God.  Let  us 
sketch  it  rapidly,  first  according  to  the  Bible 
and  then  according  to  history. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  25 

According  to  the  Bible,  Jehovah,  after  hav- 
ing revealed  himself  to  the  patriarchs,  made 
definite  choice  of  the  descendants  of  Jacob  as 
his  people;  to  them  will  he  make  known  his 
law,  and  through  them  to  the  world.  He  deliv- 
ers them  from  Egypt  by  the  hand  of  Moses, 
and  on  Mount  Sinai  reveals  and  offers  to  them 
his  law.  Israel  accepts  this  law,  enters  into  an 
alliance  with  Jehovah,  becomes  his  people.  As 
long  as  she  observes  the  compact  and  follows 
Jehovah's  law,  Jehovah  protects  her  and  causes 
her  to  prosper;  when  she  fails  to  do  so,  he  de- 
livers her  into  the  hands  of  her  enemies. 

Israel  conquers  the  land  which  Jehovah  prom- 
ised her  ancestors;  but  she  forgets  her  vow, 
adopts  the  idolatry  of  Canaan,  and  Jehovah 
abandons  her  to  her  oppressors.  Hearing  her 
cry  of  distress  and  repentance,  Jehovah  sends 
judges  to  save  her.  The  kingdom  is  established 
under  the  auspices  of  Jehovah,  but  David  alone 
keeps  it  within  the  path  of  the  Lord.  The 
national  unity  is  destroyed  under  the  second  suc- 
cessor of  the  royal  psalmist.  Both  the  king- 
dom of  Judah,  which  to  the  end  clings  to  the 
house  of  David,  and  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  torn 
asunder  by  military  revolutions,  are  unfaithful 
to  Jehovah ;  Israel  continuously  so,  and  Judah, 
with  occasional  reversions  to  faith.  The  pro- 
phets that  Jehovah  sends  to  Israel  —  Elijah, 
Elisha,  Micah,  Amos,  Hosea  —  announce  in 


26  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

vain  the  punishment  that  is  imminent,  until  the 
day  that  Assyria  comes  to  wreak  upon  Samaria 
the  vengeance  of  the  Lord. 

Judah  survives  her  sister  a  century  and  a 
half.  The  glowing  utterances  of  the  prophets 
accentuate  the  return  of  Judah  to  Jehovah. 
But  neither  the  piety  of  Hezekiah  nor  that  of 
Josiah  can  expiate  the  sacrileges  of  those  who 
preceded  them  and  of  those  who  followed.  Jeru- 
salem is  condemned  in  turn ;  Judah  goes  in  exile 
to  Babylon.  But  trial  has  purified  the  outlaws. 
Jehovah  will  restore  to  them  liberty,  glory, 
the  moral  control  of  humanity.  A  scion  of 
David  shall  cause  justice  and  the  name  of  the 
God  of  Israel  to  reign  throughout  the  world. 
Babylon  succumbs,  Cyrus  restores  the  promised 
land  to  the  exiles,  and,  lo!  under  Zerubbabel, 
Ezra,  and  Nehemiah,  Israel  is  committed  to  the 
single  worship  of  Jehovah  and  the  single  law 
of  Moses. 

All  through  Kenan's  "Histoire  du  Peuple 
d'Israel"  one  may  observe  how  the  application 
of  the  scientific  method  has  shattered  the  frame- 
work of  a  narrative  infantile,  —  or  divine  in  its 
simplicity,  and  how  it  has  brought  to  the  sur- 
face the  infinite  complexity  of  human  affairs. 
The  miracle  of  a  uniform,  continuous  revelation, 
ever  present  and  complete  from  the  moment 
when  it  descended  from  heaven,  is  supplanted 
by  the  no  less  miraculous  history  of  a  progres- 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  27 

sive  revelation  proceeding  from  the  heart  of 
man,  and  from  the  fervent  meditations  of  cer- 
tain seers,  slowly  evolved,  transformed,  adapted 
to  the  stature  of  humanity ;  and  Israel,  in  place 
of  being  the  elect  of  God,  has  herself  created 
God  in  the  sweat  of  her  brow. 

Israel,  once  in  possession  of  a  doctrine  which 
she  believed  to  be  a  revelation  from  above,  and 
which  consequently  appealed  to  her  as  eternal, 
removed  her  recent  conquest  into  the  farthest 
limits  of  her  past,  and  rewrote  her  history  under 
the  spell  of  an  ideal.  Hence  the  successive 
revelations  of  Jehovah  to  the  legendary  ances- 
tors of  the  race,  —  to  Noah,  to  Abraham,  to 
Jacob;  hence  the  revelation  from  Sinai,  and 
the  colossal  figure  of  Moses  transformed  from  the 
leader  of  the  exodus  to  the  legislator;  and  hence 
all  this  drama  of  national  history,  which  takes 
on  the  form  of  a  continuous  struggle  between 
God  and  man,  in  which  God  finally  triumphs  in 
order  to  save  man. 

All  this  is  merely  a  sublime  fiction.  The 
historical  texts,  considered  by  themselves  and 
freed  from  edifying  glosses  which  a  triumphant 
doctrine  added  with  a  view  of  showing  the  ac- 
tual accomplishment  of  the  divine  word  in  the 
progress  of  the  world,  make  it  perfectly  evident 
that  all  these  heroes  of  prehistoric  times,  these 
patriarchs,  —  first  symbol  of  Jewish  sanctity,  — 
Moses,  the  supreme  legislator,  the  man  of  God; 


28  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  liberating  judges  sent  by  divine  pity  to 
the  rescue  of  a  repentant  people,  —  even  David 
himself,  the  prototype  of  the  Messiah,  ignored 
with  perfect  security  the  majority  of  the  prin- 
ciples that  constitute  the  heart  of  organized 
Judaism.  It  was  a  time  when  Rachel  piously 
carried  the  Teraphim  with  her  from  her  father's 
house ; 1  it  was  a  time  when  Gideon,  sent  by 
Jehovah  to  save  his  people,  profited  by  the  vic- 
tory through  the  erection  of  an  epliod  that  all 
Israel  came  to  adore ; 2  a  time  when  the  tribes, 
eager  for  conquest,  dispute  for  the  possession 
of  the  most  popular  idols.3  It  was  a  time 
when  angels  walked  through  the  streets  and  in 
the  fields;  when  Jehovah  comes  to  dine  with 
Abraham,  like  a  mere  Jupiter  coming  down  to 
Philemon;4  when  each  stone  recalls  a  divine 
apparition,5  every  old  oak  and  every  terebinth 
has  its  divine  souvenir ;  when  the  two  worlds  are 
still  as  intermingled  as  in  the  time  of  Homer; 
and  when  the  race  of  Elohim  still  commingles 
with  the  daughters  of  men.6  It  was  a  time 
of  idolatry  and  of  religious  ignorance,  of  which 
the  Book  of  Judges  has  left  us  an  admirable 
and  naive  picture ;  a  time  of  religious  as  well  as 
of  political  anarchy,  when  there  was  no  genuine 
master  either  in  heaven  or  on  earth ;  when  there 

1  Gen.  xxxi.  19.  2  Judges  viii.  24  sq. 

8  Judges  xviii.  4  Gen.  xviii.  1  sq. ;  Judges  xiii. 

6  Gen.  xxviii.  19.  6  Gen.  vi.  1  so. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  29 

was  no  recognized  rule  either  for  souls  or  for 
men ;  and  when  the  utterance  -was  doubly  true, 
"In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel: 
every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own 
eyes."1 

Nevertheless,  in  this  period  of  idolatry,  Jeho- 
vah already  existed;  the  proper  names  of  the 
time  of  the  Judges  prove  this.2  He  was  al- 
ready a  distinct  figure ;  he  was  a  national  god, 
or,  to  speak  more  exactly,  a  tribal  god,  the  god 
of  the  children  of  Israel ;  but  as  yet  he  was 
only  a  figure  among  many  others  in  the  crowd 
of  EloJiim,  those  which  Israel  inherited  from 
the  most  ancient  traditions  of  the  Semitic  race, 
as  well  as  those  that  she  had  since  acquired, 
and  was  constantly  acquiring  through  the  va- 
rious nations  with  whom  chance  brought  her 
into  contact.  The  theory  has  been  propounded 
that  Jehovah  was  brought  from  Chaldea  by 
Israel,  amidst  the  mass  of  myths  and  ideas 
which  she  owed  to  the  old  civilization  of  Baby- 
lon. Was  Jehovah,  as  M.  Halevy  would  have 
us  believe,  the  special  god  of  Moses  and  the 
Levites?  Or,  indeed,  did  Moses  take  him  from 
his  father-in-law  Jethro,  the  priest  of  Midian,3 

1  Judges  xxi.  25. 

2  Joshua,  that  is  to  say,  Jeho-shfta,  "  Jehovah  is  a  help ;  " 
Jotham,  "  Jehovah  is  perfect,"  etc. 

3  Exodus  iii.  1  s^. 


30  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

whose  flocks  he  tended  at  Sinai  and  by  the 
bush  of  Horeb?  Renan,  with  his  subtle  con- 
ception of  hasards  decisifs,  has  in  fact  advanced 
the  seductive  theory  that  Jehovah  was  the  local 
god  of  Sinai,  the  flaming  mountain,  and  that  it 
was  there  that  Israel,  flying  from  Egypt,  en- 
countered him.  He  was  the  first  god  that  Israel 
met  with  after  her  departure  from  the  house  of 
slavery,  and  the  first  to  whom  she  could  offer  a 
grateful  sacrifice.  "Did  there  really  take  place 
in  the  sight  of  Serbal  a  religious  act,  a  sort  of 
consecration  of  the  people  to  the  god  of  the 
mountain,  so  effective  that  from  that  day  the 
god  of  Sinai  was  the  special  god  of  Israel? 
Did  Moses,  the  chief  of  the  people,  take  advan- 
tage of  one  of  those  frightful  storms  that  are 
frequent  in  that  country  to  make  them  believe 
in  a  revelation  of  the  thunder-god  who  dwelt  on 
high  ?  Had  the  manner  in  which  the  ninth  cen- 
tury before  Christ  pictures  the  connection  of 
the  law  with  Sinai,  any  points  of  contact  with 
the  real  facts?  or  did  this  sublime  legend  arise 
in  the  course  of  four  or  five  centuries,  growing 
like  the  soap-bubble,  which  becomes  more  bril- 
liant and  highly  colored  as  it  becomes  emp- 
tier?"1 

Renan  leaves  the  question  undecided ;  skillful 
indeed  he,  who  would  venture  to  solve  it  in  the 
present  state  of  the  documents.  And,  after  all, 

1  Renan,  Histoire  du  Peuple  rf' Israel,  i.  191,  192. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  31 

the  real  interest  of  the  question  lies  rather  in 
the  date  of  the  birth  of  the  'god,  than  in  the 
process  of  conception.  It  would  doubtless  be 
interesting  to  know  whether  the  flash  that  trans- 
figured the  world  were  struck  from  the  flint  of 
Sinai;  but  the  great  fact  to  be  kept  in  mind, 
and  which  remains,  is  that  Jehovah,  god  of  the 
nation,  whether  created  or  adopted  by  Israel, 
could  only  have  been  born  the  day  that  Israel 
began  her  career  as  a  nation.  The  moment 
that  Israel  stepped  on  free  ground  after  cross- 
ing the  Red  Sea,  a  new  god  was  conceived  in 
the  hidden  recesses  of  Jewish  thought.  The  tra- 
dition that  shows  us  Jehovah  revealing  himself 
to  Israel  by  the  mouth  of  Moses  rests  upon 
an  historical  basis;  for  the  departure  from 
Egypt,  the  first  event  in  the  national  existence 
of  Israel,  marks  the  first  pulsation  of  the  national 
god.  This  new  god  differed  little  essentially 
from  the  other  gods  that  Israel  had  encoun- 
tered, and  might  still  encounter,  in  the  course  of 
her  religious  vicissitudes ;  he  was  neither  more 
moral,  nor  more  gracious,  nor  greater;  he  dif- 
fered from  them  in  one  point  only,  but  that  an 
essential  one :  it  was  he  who  saved  Israel. 

Jehovah  then  lay  dormant  during  four  or  five 
centuries.  He  was  there,  but  he  was  not  the  sole 
figure,  either  in  Israel  or  outside  of  Israel. 
He  had  priests,  he  had  an  invisible  image  which 
floated  in  a  sacred  ark,  the  palladium  of  the 


32  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISEAEL. 

tribe  of  Ephraim.  But  his  universal  and  con- 
stant presence  was  not  felt.  Other  Elohim  and 
other  images  were  still  worshiped,  and  it  was 
quite  customary  to  consult  the  gods  of  the  neigh- 
boring nations,  —  the  Phoenicians,  Philistines, 
Moabites.  Meanwhile  the  anarchy  of  the  tribes, 
rendering  them  defenseless  against  their  neigh- 
bors, began  to  weigh  upon  them.  Attempts 
at  unity  were  made  from  various  sides;  the 
Israelitish  nationality  began  to  take  shape.  It 
took  definite  shape  upon  the  establishment  of  a 
kingdom;  and  it  is  not  purely  accidental  that 
its  first  king  is  consecrated  by  Samuel.  With 
the  forbidding  and  august  figure  of  this  seer, 
the  jealous  god  makes  his  first  appearance  in 
history.  When  the  people  demand  a  king  of 
Samuel,  they  say  to  him,  "  Give  us  a  king  who 
may  judge  us,  like  all  the  other  nations."  It 
was  not  only  a  king  they  wanted,  but  a  god 
after  the  fashion  of  other  nations.  Israel  need 
no  longer  submit  to  the  reproaches  and  in- 
sults of  the  nations  round  about,  that  ask, 
"Which  is  thy  god?"  Moab  has  Chemosh, 
Tyre  has  Baal,  the  Philistines  have  Dagon, 
Israel  has  Jehovah.  With  the  victories  of 
David,  with  the  glory  of  Solomon,  with  the 
construction  of  the  temple  that  gave  to  Jehovah 
a  permanent  abode  and  a  constantly  absorbing 
centre  for  his  cult,  Jehovah  definitely  becomes 
the  particular  god  of  Israel.  And  the  triumphs 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  33 

of  David  prove  that  he  is  more  powerful  than 
the  neighboring  gods.  "Who" is  like  unto  thee 
among  the  Elohim,  O  Jehovah?  " 

It  is  a  long  stretch  from  this  Jehovah,  the 
protecting  god  of  the  tribe,  to  the  one  god,  the 
universal  god,  the  god  of  justice.  As  yet  he  is 
not  even  the  jealous  god,  except  according  to 
the  theory  of  a  small  party  that  tries  in  vain  to 
establish  officially  the  principles  that  it  elabo- 
rates, and  which  will  be  obliged  to  protest  for 
a  long  time  and  without  success  against  the 
tolerance,  the  contradictions,  and  the  religious 
torpor  of  official  Jehovism.  While  erecting  a 
splendid  temple  to  Jehovah  at  Jerusalem,  Solo- 
mon neither  considers  himself  unfaithful  to 
him,  nor  likely  to  provoke  his  wrath,  by  offer- 
ing sacrifices  to  the  gods  of  all  his  foreign  mis- 
tresses. A  national  god  is  not  for  that  reason 
a  unique  god,  and  one  good  for  all  purposes. 
He  devotes  himself  to  the  great  interests  of  the 
nation,  assures  it  peace,  victory,  good  harvests; 
but  why  need  he  occupy  himself  with  details 
and  petty  interests?  De  minimis  non  curat. 
Every  god  has  his  special  province,  and  when 
King  Ahaziah  falls  sick  he  undoubtedly  pos- 
sesses the  right  to  consult  the  Baal-zebub  of  the 
Philistines.1  Idolatry  does  not  frighten  the 

1  2  Kings  i.  2.  "  And  Ahaziah  fell  down  through  a  lattice 
in  his  upper  chamber  that  was  in  Samaria,  and  was  sick  :  and 
he  sent  messengers,  and  said  unto  them,  Go,  inquire  of  Baal- 


34  THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

worshiper  of  Jehovah;  and  when  Israel  sepa- 
rates from  Judah,  Jeroboam's  people  are  not 
shocked  by  the  erection  of  the  golden  calf  as 
a  symbol  of  Jehovah  at  Dan  and  Beer-sheba.1 
Even  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  brazen 
serpent  receives  the  prayers  of  the  believer 
down  to  the  days  of  Hezekiah.2 

The  jealous  god  does  not  actually  triumph 
until  about  622,  scarcely  half  a  century  before 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  But  about  875,  the  god, 
weak  and  uncertain  at  the  outset,  becomes  con- 
scious of  himself  and  of  his  ambitions  with 
striking  clearness.  This  takes  place  during  the 
crisis  provoked  by  the  invasion  of  the  Phoeni- 
cian gods  in  Israel  under  King  Ahab.  At 
Jerusalem,  the  city  of  the  temple,  Jehovah  met 
with  little  opposition ;  he  was  a  god  like  those 
of  other  nations,  and  the  regular  transmission 
of  power  in  the  family  of  David  favored  a 

zebub  the  god  of  Ekron,  whether  I  shall  recover  of  this  dis- 
ease. 

"But  the  angel  of  Jehovah  said  to  Elijah  the  Tishbite, 
Arise  and  go  up  before  the  messengers  of  the  King  of  Sama- 
ria, and  say  unto  them  :  Is  there  no  god,  then,  in  Israel,  that 
ye  go  to  inquire  of  Baal-zebub,  the  god  of  Ekron  ? 

"  Now  therefore  thus  saith  Jehovah  :  Thou  shalt  not  come 
down  from  that  bed  on  which  thou  art  gone  up ;  but  shalt 
surely  die.  And  Elijah  departed." 

1  2  Kings  xii.  28. 

2  2  Kings  xviii.  4 :  "  He  removed  the  high  places  and  broke 
the  images,  and  cut  down   the  Ashera  [i.  e.  the  sacred  pole], 
and  broke  in  pieces  the  brazen  serpent  that  Moses  had  made, 
for  unto  those  days  the  children  of  Israel  burned  incense  to  it." 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  35 

tranquil  Jehovah  of  a  sacerdotal  and  serene 
type.  It  was  otherwise  in  Israel,  agitated  as 
she  was  by  perpetual  revolutions.1  About  900, 
Omri,  who  founded  Samaria,  mounted  the 
throne.  Under  him  Israel,  still  semi-barbarous, 
and  not  wholly  emerged  from  the  patriarchal 
life,  was  largely  exposed  to  the  civilizing  in- 
fluences of  her  rich  and  powerful  neighbor, 
Phoenicia.  Ahab,  son  of  Omri,  marries  a 
Phoenician  princess,  Jezebel.  Through  her, 
or  rather  through  Phoenician  influence,  the 
worship  of  the  divinities  of  Tyre  is  intro- 
duced, and  Baal  obscures  Jehovah.  Foreign 
oppression  is  needed  in  order  that  the  gods 
and  their  subjects  may  become  cognizant  of 
each  other.  All  the  pride  of  the  Israelitish 
element,  deeply  wounded  by  Phoenician  inso- 
lence, added  to  the  contempt  for  a  more  refined 
and  materially  superior  civilization,  whose  cor- 
ruption and  scars  were  alone  brought  home  to 
her;  in  short,  all  the  prejudices  of  the  Bedouin, 
and  all  his  virtues,  found  a  support  for  their 

1  After  the  death  of  Solomon,  about  975,  the  kingdom  is 
divided  in  two  :  Judah  and  Israel.  Judah,  with  Jerusalem  as 
its  capital,  remains  faithful  to  the  family  of  David  until  it  is 
destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  King  of  Babylon,  in  588,  after 
a  duration  of  four  centuries.  Israel  goes  from  dynasty  to 
dynasty,  through  a  dozen  revolutions,  and  succumbs  in  721  to 
the  blows  of  Assyria,  nearly  130  years  before  Judah.  The  pro- 
phets often  designate  Israel  as  Samaria,  from  its  capital,  or 
as  Ephraim,  its  principal  tribe,  and  sometimes  as  Joseph,  the 
ancestor  of  Ephraim. 


36  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

protest  in  Jehovah,  who  came  forth  from  the 
ordeal  more  powerful  than  ever,  more  imperious 
and  moral  by  contrast.  The  traits  of  Samuel 
reappear  in  Elijah  the  Tishbite.  This  dark 
and  powerful  figure,  whom  legend  has  enveloped 
in  a  veil  of  flame,  took  a  strong  hold  upon  the 
imagination  of  the  generations  that  followed 
him;  a  human  archangel  carried  to  heaven 
alive,1  a  divine  precursor  whose  return  was 
awaited  by  the  first  Christians,2  an  eternal  wan- 
derer for  whom  the  Jews  still  leave  an  empty 
place  each  year  at  the  feast  of  the  Passover. 
But  here  the  halo  of  the  legend  is  but  the  reflec- 
tion of  history,  the  radiance  of  a  real  person- 
ality, and  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  the  existence 
and  the  achievement  of  this  great  "troubler 
of  Israel."3  His  name  is  synonymous  with  a 
successful  war  of  the  jealous  god,  a  war  to  the 
knife,  of  Jehovah  against  Baal,  that  ends  in 
the  extermination  of  the  Phoenician  god.  It  is 
in  the  school  of  the  prophets,  fashioned  after 
Jehovah's  image,  that  the  monotheism  of  Israel 
is  forged  like  a  bar  of  iron.  A  curious  echo  of 
the  semi-Voltairean  arguments  that  were  cur- 
rent in  these  schools  is  preserved  in  the  sarcasms 
hurled  by  Elijah  against  the  priests  of  Baal, 
calling  in  vain  for  the  heavenly  fire  on  the  sac- 
rifice offered  to  their  god :  "  Cry  a  little  louder 

l  2  Kings  ii.  2  John  i.  25. 

8  1  Kings  xviii.  17. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  37 

then ;  forsooth,  he  is  a  god ;  perhaps  he  is  talk- 
ing, or  engaged,  or  he  is  on  a  journey,  or  per- 
haps he  is  asleep  and  must  be  awakened."  1 

Elijah  is  separated  by  about  a  century  from 
the  prophets,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word; 
or  rather  from  those  whose  works  we  possess. 
This  century,  of  which  nothing  remains  but 
legends,  must  have  been  the  most  fertile  in  the 
moral  history  of  Israel;  for  the  first  prophets 
already  present  all  the  traits  of  the  prophetic 
literature.  Jehovah  is  no  longer  merely  the 
jealous  god,  the  god  who  strikes  and  punishes 
those  who  forget  or  who  scorn  him:  he  is  al- 
ready the  god  of  virtue,  the  god  of  justice;  he 
is  already  the  god  of  the  poor  and  the  op- 
pressed, the  god  who  asks  not  sacrifices  of  those 
that  serve  him,  but  a  pure  heart.  A  beautiful 
page  from  the  legend  of  Elijah  fleeing  before 
Jezebel  may  be  regarded  as  a  symbol  of  this 
transformation :  — 

"And  he  went  a  day's  journey  into  the  wil- 
derness ;  he  sat  down  under  a  juniper-tree,  and 
prayed  for  death,  saying,  It  is  enough,  Jeho- 
vah, take  away  my  life,  for  I  am  not  better 
than  my  fathers.  .  .  .  And  the  voice  of  Jeho- 
vah came  to  him  and  said,  What  dost  thou  here, 
Elijah? 

"And  he  answered:  I  have  been  very  jealous 
for  the  Lord  God  of  hosts;  for  the  children 

1  1  Kings  xviii.  27. 


38  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy  covenant,  thrown 
down  thine  altars,  slain  thy  prophets  with  the 
sword,  and  I  alone  am  left,  and  they  seek  me 
in  order  to  kill  me. 

"And  Jehovah  said,  Go  forth  and  stand 
upon  the  mount  before  Jehovah.  And  behold, 
the  Lord  passed  by,  and  a  great  and  strong 
wind  rent  the  mountain,  and  broke  in  pieces 
the  rocks  before  Jehovah,  but  Jehovah  was  not 
in  the  wind;  and  after  the  wind  came  an 
earthquake,  but  Jehovah  was  not  in  the  earth- 
quake; and  after  the  earthquake  a  fire,  but 
Jehovah  was  not  in  the  fire ;  and  after  the  fire 
there  came  a  still  small  voice."  1 

It  is  this  still  small  voice  that  henceforth 
mingles  its  note  with  the  thunderbolts  of  Jeho- 
vah, and  gives  to  prophecy  that  unique  blending 
of  passion  and  tenderness  which  was  destined 
both  to  shatter  and  to  melt  the  stony  heart  of 
that  ancient  world. 

II. 

In  truth,  the  century  following  after  Elijah 
gave  birth  to  a  new  phenomenon ;  a  god  became 
the  instrument  of  morality. 

We  cannot  trace  the  origin  of  the  movement 
that  culminates  in  the  purification  and  idealiza- 
tion of  Jehovah,  placing  him  beyond  the  pale 
and  above  all  other  gods,  clearing  the  entire 

1  1  Kings  xix.  11,  12. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  39 

heavens  to  make  room  for  him,  and  attaching 
to  his  name  and  to  his  worship  all  the  force 
implied  in  conscience.  With  Amos  and  Hosea, 
the  first  prophets  whose  writings  we  possess, 
this  task  is  already  accomplished.  Nothing  es- 
sential was  added  to  it  after  them;  even  they 
did  not  invent  anything,  and  owe  their  title  of 
priority  merely  to  the  chance  which  occasioned 
the  loss  of  the  work  of  predecessors,  whose 
names  the  Bible  has  perpetuated,  and  whose 
works  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Kings  and 
the  author  of  Chronicles  still  possessed,  — 
Nathan,  Gad,  Iddo,  and  others.  It  is  probable 
that,  already  in  the  war  that  Elijah  waged 
against  Baal  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  politics 
and  theology  were  not  the  sole  questions  at 
issue,  and  that  the  powerful  moral  impetus  of 
prophetical  Jehovism  had  already  become  mani- 
fest. Elijah  is  not  only  the  enemy  of  Baal  and 
his  idols,  he  is  the  arbiter  sent  to  threaten  the 
murderer  of  Naboth  with  the  wrath  of  Jehovah, 
in  order  to  avenge  the  poor  man  who  is  stripped 
and  slaughtered ; l  and  the  first  evangelical 
parable  was  recited  ten  centuries  before  Christ, 
by  the  prophet  Nathan,  stigmatizing  in  David's 
presence  and  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  the  royal 
murderer  and  adulterer.2 

1  1  Kings  xxi.  18  sq. 

2  "  There  were  two  men  in  the  same  city,  the  one  rich  and 
the  other  poor. 


40  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

The  eleventh  century,  that  culminated  in  this 
movement,  is  one  of  the  great  epochs  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  soul.  It  was  a  century  of 
an  intense  moral  crisis,  of  painful  unrest,  com- 
parable to  that  of  the  first  century  of  our  era, 
and  to  that  of  the  century  in  which  we  live. 
Israel  sought  her  god  and  found  him  not.  She 
vainly  strove  to  wrest  the  secret  of  justice  and 
of  truth  from  the  impotent  idols  erected  by 
her  first  king  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  for  the 
purpose  of  weaning  the  people  from  their  at- 
tachment to  Jerusalem.  Many,  doubtless,  in 
accepting  the  new  gods  of  Phoenicia,  had  hoped 
to  find  peace  of  mind  in  them,  and  they  wan- 
dered from  one  god  to  another,  "  halting  between 
Jehovah  and  Baal,"  without  rest  and  without 
hope.  It  was  a  century  of  anguish  and  of  trep- 
idation, whose  wail  has  not  reached  us,  and 
which  none  of  its  children  has  portrayed.  An 
echo,  however,  of  this  anguish  remains  in  a 
page  which  ushers  in  prophetic  literature,  and 

"  And  the  rich  man  had  large  cattle  and  small  cattle  in 
great  number. 

"  And  the  poor  man  had  but  one  small  lamb,  which  he  had 
bought  and  nourished,  and  it  grew  up  together  with  him  and 
with  his  children  ;  it  ate  of  his  meat,  drank  from  his  cup,  lay 
in  his  bosom,  and  was  to  him  as  a  daughter. 

"  And  there  came  a  traveler  unto  the  rich  man,  and  he  did 
not  take  of  his  own  flock,  large  or  small,  to  entertain  the  guest, 
who  had  come  unto  him,  but  took  the  poor  man's  lamb,"  etc. 
(2  Samuel  xii.  1  sq.) 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISEAEL.  41 

summarizes  the  moral  drama  of  the  century  now 
drawing  to  its  close : 1  — 

"Behold,  the  days  are  coming,  saith  the 
Lord  Jehovah,  that  I  will  send  a  famine  in  this 
land,  not  a  famine  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for 
water,  but  of  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord. 

"They  shall  wander  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
from  the  north  to  the  east  they  shall  run  to 
seek  the  divine  word,  and  shall  not  find  it. 

"In  that  day  shall  the  fair  virgins  and  young 
men  perish  for  thirst;  and  they  that  swear  by 
the  sin  of  Samaria,  saying,  Long  live  the  god 
of  Dan!  Long  live  the  way  of  Beer-sheba! 
shall  fall,  never  to  rise  again." 

When  prophetic  literature  appeared,  the 
moral  and  political  horizon  stretching  before 
the  eyes  of  the  dreamers  of  Israel  and  of  Ju- 
dah  consisted  of  a  number  of  small  states, 
Moab,  Edom,  Tyre,  Philistia,  Israel,  Judah, 
all  contending  with  one  another  with  the  bitter- 
ness characteristic  of  small  states.  War  and 
pillage  were  the  order  of  the  day,  perpetual 
razzias  supplying  captives  for  the  slave  trade 
of  Tyre  and  the  Greek  islands.  Farther  off,  a 
powerful  state,  Damascus,  and,  still  farther, 
mighty  Assyria,  with  their  vast  armies,  their 
wars  of  extermination,  their  frightful  systems 
of  deportation  and  transportation  in  mass,  al- 
ready throw  the  shadow  of  death  upon  this 
1  Amos  viii.  10-14. 


42  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

chaos  of  lawless  communities.  The  gods  are 
as  wicked  and  as  bigoted  as  men;  religion  is 
become  a  school  of  prostitution  in  the  temple  of 
Astarte,  of  barbarity  on  the  altars  of  Moloch; 
worship  vacillating  between  silly  and  atrocious 
practices;  divination,  sorcery,  imposture,  are 
closely  bound  up  with  all  the  cults.  And  when 
the  prophet  of  Jehovah  extends  his  gaze  to  his 
own  people,  he  beholds  political  and  moral  an- 
archy. Israel  is  divided  against  herself,  and 
presents  a  united  front  only  when  opposing 
Judah.  Bloody  military  revolutions  create  and 
overthrow  kings,  and  all  the  horrors  of  a  pre- 
torian  regime  exist  in  a  kingdom  of  several 
square  miles.  In  the  intermittent  hours  of 
peace,  force  remains  absolute  master,  as  in  the 
time  of  war ;  the  poor  are  oppressed  by  the  rich, 
and,  worst  of  all,  justice  is  purchased  by  the 
powerful.  The  temples  are  full  of  foreign  in- 
novations; Jehovah  himself  affords  no  succor; 
his  cult  is  reduced  to  a  system  of  pure  idolatry, 
a  ritual  of  sacrifices  and  fasts,  without  a  moral 
basis;  nowhere  a  voice  speaking  with  author- 
ity. It  is  at  such  a  moment  that  the  moral 
force  resting  in  the  exclusive  character  of  Jeho- 
vah reveals  itself. 

The  cruelty,  the  degradation,  the  iniquity, 
characteristic  of  those  times,  were  certainly  no 
worse  than  in  preceding  centuries,  both  in  Israel 
and  in  the  rest  of  the  Semitic  world ;  nor  worse 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  43 

than  those  which  prevailed  later  in  Greece  and 
in  Rome,  in  the  most  flourishing  centuries  of 
literature  and  art.  It  was  part  of  the  spirit  of 
prophecy  to  be  dumfounded  at  human  ferocity 
as  at  something  against  nature  and  reason.  In 
the  presence  of  the  iniquities  of  the  world,  the 
heart  of  the  prophets  bled  as  though  from  a 
wound  of  the  divine  spirit,  and  their  cry  of 
indignation  reechoed  the  wrath  of  the  deity. 
Greece  and  Rome  had  their  rich  and  poor,  just 
as  Israel  had  in  the  days  of  Jeroboam,  and  the 
various  classes  continued  to  slaughter  one  an- 
other for  centuries,  but  no  voice  of  justice  and 
pity  arose  from  the  fierce  tumult.  Nations  were 
born  and  perished,  living  from  day  to  day  at 
the  mercy  of  the  accidents  and  the  appetites  of 
the  hour,  without  comprehending  that  a  nation, 
in  order  to  live  and  to  deserve  to  live,  needs  an 
ideal  that  may  determine  its  destiny.  In  de- 
fault of  such,  it  must  perish,  with  no  reason  for 
its  existence,  "with  its  future  hanging  before  it 
in  tatters."1  Therefore  these  ancient  words, 
fierce  and  violent,  have  more  vitality  at  the 
present  time,  and  answer  better  to  the  needs  of 
modern  souls,  than  all  the  classic  masterpieces 
of  antiquity.  Therefore  these  stray  pages,  sent 
forth  twenty-six  centuries  ago  among  two  semi- 
barbarous  tribes,  and  exposed  to  the  vicissitudes 
of  chance,  constitute  a  production  that  will  live 
forever. 

1  Deuteronomy  xxviii.  66. 


44  THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

in. 

All  the  essential  doctrines  of  prophecy  appear 
in  the  first  two  prophets  remaining  to  us, 
Amos  and  Hosea;  the  former  occupied  rather 
with  social  justice,  the  latter  more  religious, 
and  concerned  with  morality  and  with  God. 
Both  belong  to  the  Israelitish  prophets,  if  not 
by  their  nationality,  —  for  Amos  was  born  in 
Judah,  —  at  least  by  their  purpose,  which  is, 
the  regeneration  of  Israel.  Israel,  torn  by  dis- 
sensions, had  greater  need  of  reformers,  and 
offered  them  a  more  favorable  field  than  Judah, 
who,  in  default  of  a  very  high  code  of  morality, 
had  at  least,  thanks  to  the  legal  prestige  of  her 
kingdom,  that  most  important  of  political  ad- 
vantages, stability.  Prophecy  does  not  take 
root  in  Judah  until  after  the  overthrow  of  Is- 
rael. At  Samaria,  just  as  somewhat  later  at 
Jerusalem,  the  dream,  or  rather  the  arrested 
project,  of  the  prophets  is  to  bring  about  the 
realization  of  the  model  State,  the  State  con- 
formable to  the  views  of  Jehovah,  and  therefore 
based  upon  justice. 

At  the  time  that  Amos  appeared,  Israel  had 
reached  her  highest  point  of  temporal  power. 
King  Jeroboam  II.  (825-775  B.  c.)  had  con- 
quered for  himself  a  part  of  the  empire  of 
David.  He  had  crushed  Moab,  whose  god  Che- 
mosh  had  not  been  able  to  save  it  as  in  the  days 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  45 

of  King  Mesha,  and  in  the  field  of  Heshbon  he 
had  silenced  "the  joy  of  the  orchards  and  the 
songs  of  the  vintage."  But  his  victories  over 
Damascus,  Gaza,  Tyre,  Edom,  Moab  are  to 
the  prophet  merely  an  omen  of  the  impending 
vengeance  of  the  Eternal  upon  Israel.  Damas- 
cus, Gaza,  Tyre,  Moab,  Edom  expiate  their 
past  atrocities,  and  Israel,  equally  guilty,  must 
suffer  in  turn.  She  must  expiate  her  sin  "be- 
cause she  sold  justice  for  silver,  and  the  poor 
for  a  pair  of  shoes ;  " l  because  her  nobles,  reclin- 
ing upon  their  ivory  couches,  pick  the  lyre,  to 
play  like  David,  and  drink  wine  from  full  cups, 
without  grieving  for  the  affliction  of  Joseph.2 
For  this  reason,  in  truth,  shall  they  build  them- 
selves houses  of  hewn  stone,  but  shall  not  dwell 
in  them ;  plant  pleasant  vineyards,  but  shall  not 
drink  of  the  wine.  Let  them  go  to  Cain  eh, 
to  great  Hamath,  to  Gath  of  the  Philistines, 
and  see  the  fate  which  awaits  them!  They 
shall  pass  into  exile  at  the  head  of  the  band, 
and  their  exultation  shall  cease.  It  is  Jehovah, 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  who  swears:  "I  abhor  the 
pride  of  Jacob,  I  hate  his  palaces."3  And  he 
will  besiege  her  city,  starve  it,  empty  it,  pass 
the  scythe  over  Israel,  destroy  her  sanctuaries, 
and  raise  the  sword  over  the  house  of  Jeroboam. 

It  required  a  brave  heart  to  fling  these  cries 
at  the  victors,  in  the  height  of  their  triumph: 

1  Amos  ii.  6.  2  Amos  vi.  4.  3  Amos  vi.  8  sq. 


46  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

"Therefore  the  prudent  shall  keep  silent  in 
that  time,  for  the  people  hate  those  that  re- 
buke at  the  gate  of  the  tribunal,  and  they  ab- 
hor those  that  speak  uprightly."1  The  priests 
especially  bore  malice  against  those  men  who, 
without  authority,  presumed  to  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Jehovah  things  which  they,  his 
priests,  had  never  thought  of.  The  priest  of 
the  royal  sanctuary,  Beth-el,  denounced  the  in- 
truder to  King  Jeroboam.  "  Get  thee  away  to 
Judah,"  he  says;  "earn  thy  bread  by  retailing 
thy  prophecies  there !  "  "I  am  neither  prophet," 
answers  Amos,  "nor  the  son  of  a  prophet.  I 
am  but  a  herdsman,  and  a  gatherer  of  sycamore 
fruit ;  but  Jehovah  took  me  away  from  my  flock 
and  said  unto  me,  Go  prophesy  unto  my  peo- 
ple in  Israel !  "  2  For  when  the  Lord  commands, 
the  prophet  must  speak,  despite  the  one  who 
seals  his  lips.  "  When  the  lion  roars,  who  would 
not  tremble?  When  the  Eternal  speaks,  who 
would  not  prophesy  ?  "  3 

Neither  priests  nor  cult  could  save  Israel 
from  the  wrath  of  Jehovah !  "  Bring  your  sac- 
rifices every  morning,  and  your  tithes  every 
three  days,  and  loudly  proclaim  your  freewill 
offerings,  since  you  are  fond  of  this,  O  chil- 
dren of  Israel !  But  Jehovah  hates  and  despises 
all  your  festivals.  What  cares  he  for  your 

1  Amos  v.  9, 13  ;  ii.  2.  2  Amos  vii.  10  sq. 

8  Amos  iii.  8. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  47 

holocausts,  and  for  your  offerings  of  fatted 
calves?  He  will  roll  the  altar  upon  the  head 
of  his  worshipers,  and  crush  them  under  the 
ruins.1  Should  they  seek  refuge  in  Sheol,  his 
hand  would  drag  them  thence;  should  they  as- 
cend to  the  heavens,  he  would  bring  them 
down.2  .  .  .  Away  from  me  with  the  noise  of 
your  songs,  that  I  may  not  hear  the  sound  of 
your  lyres ;  bu t  let  righteousness  gush  forth  as 
water^  and  justice  a's  a  never-failing  stream  !  "  3 

God,  however,  can  never  entirely  abandon 
his  chosen  people.  The  sinners  only  among 
them  shall  perish.  Israel  and  Judah  shall  be 
reunited.  God  will  raise  up  the  fallen  taber- 
nacle of  David,  and  by  closing  up  the  breaches 
and  removing  the  ruins  will  rebuild  it  as  it  was 
before.4 

The  same  background  of  ideas  is  found  in 
Hosea,  but  with  a  more  personal  Jehovah,  more 
intimate,  closer  to  Israel,  jealous  with  the  jeal- 
ousy of  love  and  not  of  pride;  whence  results 
new  imagery,  which  is  not  without  influence  on 
his  successors ;  and  impressive  utterances,  which 
are  only  equaled  by  the  second  Isaiah. 

Hosea   is   several    years   later   than   Amos.5 

1  Amos  iv.  5  ;  v.  2 ;  ix.  1  sq. 

2  "  Quand  vous  habiteriez  la  montagne  de  1'aigle, 

Je  vous  arracherai  de  la,  dit  1'Eternel." 

—  V.HUGO. 

8  Amos  v.  23,  24  4  Amos  ix.  9  sq. 

5  Reuss  places  the  period  of  his  preaching  from  784  to  760. 


48  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Political  decomposition  was  progressing.  The 
transitory  and  deceptive  splendor  of  Jeroboam 
was  past:  pronunciamentos  made  and  unmade 
kings.  Assyria  appeared  on  the  horizon,  des- 
tined to  engulf  everything.  And  Israel,  in 
place  of  proceeding  in  the  path  that  Jehovah 
opens  to  her,  amuses  herself  with  international 
intrigues;  turns  to  Egypt,  turns  to  Assyria; 
puts  off  moral  reform,  plunges  into  the  morals 
and  practices  of  her  allies  and  ephemeral  pro- 
tectors. She  consults  divining  rods,  sacrifices 
upon  the  high  places,  burns  incense  upon  the 
oak  and  the  terebinth,  and  there  is  neither 
truth,  nor  love,  nor  knowledge  of  God;  there 
is  only  swearing  and  lying,  killing  and  adul- 
tery. Therefore  the  tempest  will  carry  her  off 
on  its  wings.1  In  vain  do  they  turn  towards 
Ashur;  Ashur  has  no  remedy  for  their  scars. 
Let  them  come  back  to  Jehovah,  call  upon  him 
in  their  anguish ! 2 

Why  has  the  daughter  of  Israel  forgotten 
her  betrothal  with  Jehovah,  and  why  does  she 
debauch  herself  with  the  Baals?  She  knows 
not  that  it  is  Jehovah  who  has  given  her  the 
corn,  the  wine,  and  the  oil  that  she  offers  to  her 
false  gods,  —  the  gold  and  the  silver  of  which 
she  makes  their  idols.  Therefore  Jehovah  will 
take  back  his  corn  and  his  wine,  and  the  wool 
and  the  flax  with  which  she  would  cover  her 
1  Hosea  iv.  1,  2,  19.  8  Hosea  v.  15. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  49 

nakedness.  He  will  ravage  her  vineyards  and 
her  fig-trees,  and  change  them -into  brushwood. 
But  no,  Jehovah  can  never  entirely  repudiate 
her  who  gave  him  the  love  of  her  youth.  He 
will  bring  her  into  the  wilderness,  where  they 
have  loved  each  other;  he  will  console  her;  she 
shall  sing  there,  as  in  the  days  when  she  came 
out  of  Egypt,  and  the  plain  of  sadness  shall 
become  the  door  of  hope.1  How  could  God 
abandon  Ephraim,  whom  he  had  guided  in  lead- 
ing-strings, whom  he  had  taken  in  his  arms, 
had  attached  to  himself  with  all  a  man's  fibre, 
with  bands  of  love?  The  heart  of  Jehovah  is 
turned  inward,  and  melts  with  compassion:  "I 
will  not  destroy  Ephraim;  for  I  am  God,  and 
not  man.  I  am  the  holy  one  in  the  midst  of 
you;  I  will  not  come  to  destroy !  " 2 

Ah,  that  Israel  would  again  turn  towards 
Jehovah!  "For  he  who  tore  them  will  heal 
them,  who  wounded  them  will  bind  them  up. 
He  will  revive  them  after  two  days,  and  on  the 
third  day  he  will  raise  them  up."3  For  God 
loves  them,  and  for  that  reason  he  strikes  them 
through  the  prophets,  and  kills  them  by  the 
words  of  his  mouth.4  Let  them  not  come  to 
him  with  sacrifices.  "  For  I  desired  mercy  and 

1  Hosea  ii.  10,  15.  2  Hosea  xi.  3,  9. 

8  Hosea  vi.  1,  2.     Text  afterwards  applied  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ. 
4  Hosea  vi.  5. 


50  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

not  sacrifice."1  Let  them  turn  again  to  Jeho- 
vah, for  it  is  not  the  Assyrian  who  will  save 
them;  it  is  Jehovah  who  is  their  God,  their 
only  God  since  their  sojourn  in  Egypt,  their 
only  saviour!  "That  which  destroys  thee,  O 
Israel,  is  that  thou  art  against  me,  against  thy 
saviour;  turn  back  to  Jehovah,  thy  God!"2 
Let  them  seek  the  Lord ;  it  is  still  time ;  he  will 
come  to  teach  them  justice.  They  have  ploughed 
wickedness  and  reaped  iniquity ; 3  let  them  now 
sow  the  seeds  of  righteousness,  and  they  shall 
reap  mercy.4 

The  framework  created  by  Amos  and  Hosea, 
or  by  their  lost  predecessors,  is  that  which  will 
be  adopted  by  all  the  prophets  that  follow,  for 
their  preaching,  their  threats,  and  their  hopes. 
The  uniformity  of  the  foundation  is  varied  only 
by  the  individual  genius  of  each,  and  by  the 
advance  of  history.  In  each  prophet  there  is 
a  code  of  ethics  and  of  politics  indissolubly  con- 
nected, —  for  to  them  ethics  and  politics  were 
one,  —  and  without  the  change  of  an  axiom  from 
first  to  last.  The  only  thing  that  changes, 
because  affected  by  exterior  circumstances  that 
are  of  course  subject  to  change,  is  each  one's 
conception  of  the  future,  or  rather  the  manner 
in  which  the  inevitable  future  will  be  realized. 

1  Hosea  vi.  6.  2  Hosea  xiii.  9. 

8  Hosea  x.  13.  *  Hosea  x.  12. 


THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  51 

That  which  is  not  based  upon  justice   must 
perish ; 

Jehovah  has  revealed  justice  to  Israel; 

Israel  should  realize  justice; 

Justice  will  be  realized  some  day. 

These  are  the  four  axioms  of  prophecy,  the 
four  invincible  certainties  that  constituted   its 
supernatural  power.    And  the  last  of  these  four, 
in  equipping  it  with  hope  for  all  eternity,  pre- 
served it  from  the  crushing  influence  of  time. 
But  when  and  how  will  justice  be  realized  ?  Upon 
this  point  the  prophets  differ.     Those  who  came 
first,  beheld  the  glorious  advent  near  and  direct. 
It  is  Israel  who,  obedient  to  their  voice,  will  of 
her  own  accord  realize,  through  the  hand  of  her 
kings,  the  divine  will  in  the  promised  land.     In 
order  to  open  her  eyes  and  her  heart  completely, 
many  blows  from  on  high  will  perhaps  be  needed, 
many  chastisements  from  the  hand  of  God,  and 
from  the  hand  of  man.     But  the  bitter  experi- 
ence of  the  expiations  that  follow  all  iniquity 
like  its  shadow,  the  natural  reactions  that  sup- 
press every  outbreak  of  wickedness,  will  finally 
teach  her,  and  make  of  her  the  happy  servant 
of  God.      On   two  occasions,   under  Hezekiah 
and  under  Josiah,1  the  prophets  believe  the  end 
attained.     Their  ideal  seems  about  to  become 
the  law  of  the  State,  and  to  pass  into  reality 
through  the  hand  of  the  civil  power.     The  illu- 
1  Hezekiah,  726-697  ;  Josiah,  640-610. 


52  THE  PROPHETS  OF  1SEAEL. 

sion  was  brief,  and  it  was  soon  seen  that  under 
existing  circumstances  there  was  no  hope  for 
the  divine  plan.  The  political  world  of  the  day 
is  too  corrupt,  too  deeply  sunk  in  egotism,  in 
narrowness  of  thought  and  of  heart,  to  follow 
the  call  of  the  very  small  minority  represented 
by  the  prophets.  The  present  nation,  such  as 
it  has  become  in  the  course  of  centuries,  will 
not  carry  out  the  new  order :  she  is,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  its  inveterate  enemy;  she  is 
the  obstacle  and  must  perish.  Israel  must  be 
swept  away  by  a  tempest  that  shall  engulf  the 
impure  element,  and  then  the  purified  debris, 
reared  and  nurtured  by  the  prophetic  doctrine, 
will  come  back  to  Palestine  to  found  the  ideal 
state.  History  thus  divides  the  prophetic  drama 
into  three  acts :  the  first  is  animated  by  the  bold 
illusion  which  attempts  to  construct  the  future 
directly  from  the  present;  the  second  is  filled 
with  the  necessary  destruction ;  the  third  by  the 
restoration  held  out  as  possible. 

The  first  act  is  dominated  by  Isaiah,  the  sec- 
ond by  Jeremiah,  the  third  by  the  great  "  Anony- 
mous "  of  the  Captivity. 


IV. 

The  cries  and  the  tears  of  Amos  and  Hosea 
were  lost  upon  Israel.  Adventurers  succeeded 
one  another  upon  the  throne.  One  of  them, 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  53 

Menahem,  ripped  up  all  the  women  that  were 
with  child,  in  the  cities  that  resisted ! l  Israel  is 
at  the  point  of  death,  and  recovers  her  energy 
only  in  attacking  Judah :  "  Every  man  eats  the 
flesh  of  his  own  arm,  Manasseh  against  Ephraim, 
Ephraim  against  Manasseh,  and  both  together 
against  Judah."2  A  king  of  Israel,  Pekah, 
who  reigned  longer  than  the  others  (758-738), 
combines  against  Judah  with  the  king  of  Da- 
mascus, and  Jerusalem  is  kept  at  bay  by  this 
fratricidal  coalition.3  When  the  news  that  the 
Syrians  of  Damascus  were  encamped  in  Ephraim 
arrived  at  the  court  of  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah, 
his  heart  was  stirred,  and  the  heart  of  his  peo- 
ple, as  the  trees  of  the  forest  are  stirred  by 
the  wind.  "Fear  nothing,"  says  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  "fear  nothing,  neither  be  faint-hearted 
in  the  presence  of  the  two  ends  of  these  smok- 
ing firebrands !  "  4  The  two  allies  did  not  know 
that  they  were  but  two  dying  nations  already 
doomed.  From  the  other  side  of  the  Euphrates, 
the  Assyrian  hordes  were  already  hastening  on, 
and,  in  response  to  Jehovah's  beckoning,  were 
descending  upon  all  the  valleys  and  into  all 
the  byways  of  Damascus  and  Ephraim.5  The 
king  of  Assyria,  Tiglath-Pileser,  entered  Da- 
mascus, killed  the  king  of  Syria,  and  carried 

1  2  Kings  xv.  16.  (771-760).  2  Isaiah  ix.  20,  21. 

8  2  Kings  xvi.  5  sq.  *  Isaiah  vii.  4. 

6  Isaiah  v.  26  sq. 


54  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

her  people  captive.  Israel  was  dismembered 
and  obliged  to  pay  tribute.  Galilee  and  all  the 
land  of  Naphtali  were  subdued,  and  their  popula- 
tion carried  captive  to  Assyria.1  And  Ephraim, 
though  humilated  and  dismembered,  raised  his 
head  higher  than  ever  with  the  words:  "In 
place  of  the  fallen  bricks  we  will  rebuild  with 
hewn  stones;  for  the  sycamores  that  are  cut 
down,  will  we  put  cedars  in  their  place."2  The 
new  king,  Hosea,  forms  compacts  with  Egypt, 
a  mere  shadow  of  the  old  conquering  Egypt,  a 
"frail  reed  that  pierces  the  hand  of  him  who 
leans  upon  it."  "The  guides  of  this  people 
lead  them  astray,"  exclaimed  Isaiah,  "and  those 
whom  they  lead  are  engulfed.  Also,  Jehovah 
will  cut  off  the  head  and  tail  from  Israel  in  one 
day."3  Israel,  rebel  against  Assyria,  suc- 
cumbed after  three  years'  resistance  (721),  her 
last  king  dying  on  the  shores  of  the  Tigris. 

Isaiah  had  already  been  prophesying  for 
many  years  in  Judah  when  the  news  arrived  of 
the  downfall  of  Samaria.  For  a  long  time  he 
had  preached  in  the  style  of  Amos  against  the 
cupidity  of  the  rich,  against  the  iniquity  of  the 
judges,  against  the  hollowness  of  the  worship. 
"Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to  house,  that 
add  field  to  field,  till  there  is  no  place  left,  so 
that  they  may  be  there  alone!4  Woe  unto 

1  2  Kings  xv.  29.  2  Isaiah  ix.  10. 

8  Isaiah  ix.  16,  14.  *  Isaiah  v.  8. 


THE  PBOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  55 

them  that  rise  up  early  in  the  morning  to  run 
after  wine,  that  prolong  the  night  in  the  heat 
of  drunkenness.  The  lyre  and  the  harp,  the 
tambourine,  the  flute  and  wine,  that  is  their 
life;  but  the  work  of  the  Lord  they  do  not 
regard.  Therefore  my  people  will  go  into 
captivity  unexpectedly.  Sheol  will  open  its 
gaping  jaws,  and  all  this  brilliant  pomp,  this 
joyous  throng,  and  all  this  magnificence  shall 
descend  into  it.1 

"Woe  unto  them  that  decree  unrighteous  de- 
crees, and  to  the  clerks  that  write  unjust  sen- 
tences, turning  aside  the  needy  from  judgment, 
taking  away  the  right  from  the  poor  of  my 
people.  And  what  will  ypu  do  in  the  day  of 
reckoning,  and  in  the  desolation  which  shall 
come  from  afar?2 

"To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your 
sacrifices  to  me?  saith  Jehovah.  I  am  sated 
with  the  burnt-offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of 
fed  beasts.  Bring  no  more  vain  oblations.  In- 
cense is  an  abomination  unto  me,  and  your  new 
moons  and  sabbaths,  your  solemn  assemblies. 
I  hate  them,  they  are  a  trouble  to  me,  I  am 
weary  of  them.  When  you  spread  your  hands 
towards  me,  I  will  hide  my  eyes  from  you,  for 
your  hands  are  full  of  blood.  Wash  and  cleanse 
yourselves.  Put  away  your  evil  doings  from 
before  my  eyes.  Cease  to  do  evil!  Learn  to 
do  good,  seek  justice ! "  3 

1  Isaiah  v.  11  sq.  2  Isaiah  x.  8  Isaiah  i.  11  sq. 


56  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISEAEL 

Despair  often  possessed  the  prophet.  In 
vain  had  the  seraph  purified  his  lips  with  the 
live  coal  from  the  altar  of  the  Lord.  The  na- 
tion to  which  he  spoke  remained  impure,  and 
his  words  fell  upon  indifferent  and  insensible 
ears.  Then,  like  all  disillusioned  apostles,  — 
like  Moses  of  old,  he  appealed  from  the  present 
generation  to  a  generation  to  come,  and  with 
bitter  irony  declared  himself  sent  by  God  to 
steel  the  heart  of  his  people.  "  Go  and  tell  this 
people:  hear  ye  indeed,  but  understand  not! 
and  see  without  perceiving!  Render  the  heart 
of  this  people  insensible,  make  their  ears  heavy, 
and  shut  their  eyes;  lest  they  see  with  their 
eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand 
with  their  heart,  and  be  converted  and  be 
healed ! 

"Then  said  I,  Lord,  how  long?  And  he  an- 
swered, Until  the  cities  are  ruined  and  depop- 
ulated, and  the  country  laid  entirely  waste.  And 
if  there  remain  a  tenth  of  the  inhabitants,  they 
shall  be  decimated  in  turn.  And  like  the  tere- 
binth and  the  oak,  whose  trunk  remains  in  the 
earth  when  they  are  cut  down,  their  trunk  will 
become  a  holy  race."1 

In  the  mean  time,  under  the  lash  of  these 
disappointments,  the  soul  and  the  dream  of  the 
prophet  continued  to  broaden.  Amos  and  Hosea 
dream  only  of  moral  salvation  for  Israel  and 

1  Isaiah  vi. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  57 

the  chosen  people.  The  rest  of  the  world  is 
unknown  to  them,  or  is  merely  the  unconscious 
instrument  of  the  reform  and  salvation  of  Is- 
rael. What  Isaiah  sees,  is  Israel  saved,  and 
saving  the  world.  In  the  midst  of  nations 
given  over  to  brutal  games,  he  dreams  for 
Israel  the  ascendency  of  noble  example  and  of 
the  ideal.  He  sees  a  day  coming,  at  the  end 
of  time,  when  the  mountain  of  Jehovah's  house 
shall  be  exalted  above  all  the  mountains,  and 
all  nations  shall  stream  unto  it,  and  throngs  of 
people  shall  come  saying :  "  Come  ye,  and  let  us 
go  up  to  the  mountain  of  Jehovah,  to  the  house 
of  the  God  of  Israel,  that  he  may  teach  us  of 
his  ways,  and  that  we  may  walk  in  his  paths. 
For  from  Zion  shall  go  forth  instruction,  and 
from  Jerusalem  the  word  of  the  Eternal  /  "  1 
The  decisive  word  is  launched,  a  universal  reli- 
gion is  founded. 

The  fall  of  Samaria,  in  721,  agitated  men's 
consciences  profoundly.  The  prophets  utter  a  cry 
of  mingled  triumph  and  sadness.  In  the  pres- 
ence of  the  immensity  of  the  point  at  issue  —  the 
salvation  of  the  nation  and  the  salvation  of  souls 
—  the  tame  and  ungenerous  reproach,  "  Did  we 
not  tell  you  so?"  took  on  a  supernatural  mean- 
ing. Had  not  God  said  so?  Judah,  half  re- 
joiced, half  terrified  by  the  downfall  of  her 
sister  enemy,  sees  the  truth  of  the  prophetic 

1  Isaiah  ii.  2  sq. 


58  THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

doctrines,  bursting  forth  with  a  sinister  gleam 
out  of  the  flame  that  consumed  Samaria.  Why 
should  Judah  escape  Israel's  fate,  if  she,  too, 
remain  deaf  to  the  divine  voice,  and  show  her- 
self still  blinder  with  the  example  before  her 
of  threats  that  had  been  realized?  And  the 
princes  and  the  people  ceased  their  raillery  for 
an  instant  when  the  prophets,  lashing  them  with 
the  charges  that  had  been  brought  against  Israel, 
announced  the  inevitable  punishment  following 
upon  the  pride  and  egotism  of  the  rich,  upon 
the  harshness  and  impurity  of  morals,  upon  the 
madness  of  a  policy  dragging  itself  in  the 
beaten  track  of  duplicity  and  international  vio- 
lence. 

By  a  fortunate  chance,  at  the  time  of  the 
fall  of  Samaria,  the  throne  of  Judah  was  oc- 
cupied by  Hezekiah,  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
eight,  highly  gifted,  lettered,  and  open  to  new 
ideas,  while  independent  enough  to  pursue  his 
own  policy,  and  to  maintain  his  independence 
even  in  the  presence  of  Isaiah.  He  placed  his 
enthusiasm  and  his  power  at  the  service  of  the 
prophet;  he  became  the  Constantine,  or  rather, 
the  Acoka,  of  idealistic  Jehovism.  The  reform 
was  first  evident  in  the  cult,  —  an  indication  that 
the  sacerdotal  caste,  hitherto  indifferent  or  hos- 
tile, and  with  no  particular  antipathy  to  idola- 
try, was  taking  part  in  the  prophetic  movement. 
From  this  compromise  between  sacerdotal  Je- 


THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  59 

hovism  and  prophetic  Jehovism  resulted,  within 
a  century  and  a  half,  organized  Judaism. 
Through  this  compromise  the  conception  of  the 
prophets  abandoned  its  high  plane;  but  this 
was  necessary,  in  order  that  the  idea  should 
become  real.  A  religion,  however  lofty,  can 
influence  mankind  only  by  external  forms  that 
give  it  a  mould  capable  of  resistance,  by  the 
necessary  mummery  without  which  mankind 
does  not  take  ideas  seriously.  If  prophecy 
had  remained  in  the  realm  of  spirit,  it  would 
never  have  been  able  to  penetrate  Israel,  and 
through  Israel  the  world. 

The  transformation  of  ritual  Jehovism  to 
prophetic  Jehovism  greatly  raised  the  moral 
standard  of  the  nation  and  of  the  government. 
The  reign  of  Hezekiah  was  one  of  literary  and 
political  prosperity.  Himself  a  poet,  he  sur- 
rounded himself  with  poets ;  perhaps  among  the 
latter  was  the  author  of  the  greatest  religious 
poem  ever  written,  the  Book  of  Job,  —  that 
tragic  conflict  of  doubt  and  faith  which,  through 
the  medium  of  poetry,  balances  the  protest  of 
conscience  against  the  triumph  of  wickedness, 
the  misgiving  of  innocence  vainly  searching  for 
the  crime  which  it  is  compelled  to  expiate,  and 
a  mournful,  vague  confidence  in  the  final  justice 
of  God.  The  ancient  kingdom  of  Israel,  devas- 
tated and  depopulated  by  the  Assyrians,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Hezekiah,  by  reason  of  the 


60  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

disturbances  in  Assyria  that  followed  the  death 
of  the  conqueror  of  Samaria,  so  that  the  ruin 
of  Samaria  had  on  the  whole  brought  about  the 
reestablishment  of  the  national  unity.  The 
kingdom  of  David  was  reestablished,  and  the 
prophet,  hailing  Hezekiah  as  the  child  of  Jeho- 
vah, uttered  a  cry  of  triumph  which  seven  cen- 
turies later  gave  birth  to  Christ. 

"No  more  darkness  for  the  one  who  formerly 
dwelt  in  anguish.  The  land  of  Naphtali 1  has 
been  afflicted  in  the  past;  future  days  shall 
glorify  the  shores  of  the  lake 2  beyond  Jordan, 
the  district  of  the  Gentiles.  The  people  that 
walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great  light, 
they  that  dwelt  in  the  land  of  the  shadow  of 
death.  For  unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a 
son  is  given,  the  empire  rests  upon  his  shoulder. 
His  name  shall  be  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Hero 
of  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  born  to  increase  the  empire  and  bring 
peace  without  end  to  the  throne  of  David  and 
to  his  kingdom,  to  reestablish  it  and  strengthen 
it  with  right  and  with  justice  from  henceforth 
forever."3 

Hezekiah  thus  became  the  prototype  of  the 
Messiah,  or  rather  —  since  the  idea  of  the  f  ar- 

1  Forming   the   district  of  the  Gentiles,  or  Galilee,  whose 
population  in  the  preceding  generation  was   deported  to  As- 
syria. 

2  The  Lake  of  Genesareth. 

8  Isaiah  ix.     Cf .  Matthew  iv.  13-16. 


THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  61 

distant  Messiah,  the  Messiah  of  the  latter  days 
was  not  yet  in  existence  —  he  was  the  Mes- 
siah himself,  the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  And 
when,  eight  centuries  later,  in  the  days  of  the 
Roman  persecutions,  at  a  time  when  the  expec- 
tation of  the  avenging  Messiah  was  the  sole 
vital  force  remaining  to  Israel,  the  proscribed 
Jews  asked  of  their  leaders,  "When  forsooth 
will  the  promised  Messiah  come  who  is  to  save 
us?"  an  old  rabbi,  shaking  his  head  sadly, 
answered  them:  "The  time  for  the  Messiah  is 
past,  the  Messiah  will  come  no  more;  for  he 
has  already  come:  his  name  was  Hezekiah." 

The  fall  of  Samaria  had  strikingly  demon- 
strated the  divine  character  of  prophecy.  His- 
tory steadily  advanced  the  cause  by  facts.  Sa- 
maria, because  of  her  infidelity  and  perverse- 
ness  towards  Jehovah,  fell  before  the  Assyrian ; 
the  latter  did  not  know  that  he  was  merely  the 
instrument  of  Supreme  Justice,  and  he  de- 
scended upon  Jerusalem  ripe  for  conversion.1 
The  plague  saved  Jerusalem,  and  the  prophet, 
in  the  secret  of  Jehovah,  cried  aloud :  — 

"Woe  be  to  Assyria,  the  rod  of  mine  anger, 
the  staff  to  which  I  have  intrusted  my  ven- 
geance! Does  the  axe  boast  to  him  who  han- 
dles it?  or  does  the  saw  raise  itself  against  him 
who  puts  it  in  motion?  Therefore  shall  the 

1  The  invasion   of  Sennacherib :    Isaiah  xxrvi.,  xxxvii. ;    2 
Kings  xviii.  13  fin.  xix. 


62  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Lord,  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  send  leanness  among 
his  fat  captains,  and  upon  his  glory  he  shall 
kindle  a  burning  flame.  Be  not  afraid,  oh  my 
people  who  dwell  in  Zion,  of  this  Assyrian  who 
smites  thee  with  a  rod,  and  lifts  up  his  staff 
against  thee,  after  the  manner  of  Egypt.  The 
axe  of  Jehovah  passes  over  the  high  branches 
of  Ashur,  and  the  forest  of  Lebanon  is  hewn  to 
the  earth."1 

Then,  at  the  sight  of  the  crushed  Assyrian,  a 
vision  of  peace  that  has  ever  since  haunted  the 
universe  passes  before  the  eyes  of  the  prophet. 
War  had  come  to  an  end,  hatred  had  ceased, 
Jehovah  became  the  arbiter  of  nations.  The 
nations  no  longer  raised  the  sword  against  one 
another,  and  swords  were  to  be  forged  into 
ploughshares.  The  race  of  David  was  to  sup- 
ply the  ideal  king,  the  judge  upon  whom  the 
spirit  of  Jehovah  would  rest,  the  spirit  of  in- 
telligence and  wisdom,  the  spirit  of  knowledge 
and  of  the  fear  of  Jehovah  ;  he  will  not  judge 
from  hearsay,  but  will  judge  the  feeble  with 
justice,  and  will  decide  with  equity  in  behalf 
of  the  humble.  The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the 
lamb;  the  calf,  the  lion,  and  the  sheep  shall 
pasture  together,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead 
them  all.  For  there  will  be  no  more  sin,  no 
more  evil  over  the  whole  domain  of  the  sacred 
mountain;  and  the  knowledge  of  God  will  fill 

1  Isaiah  x.  5. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  63 


ocean.1 

V. 

The  triumph  of  prophecy  did  not  last.  Heze- 
kiah  died,  and  left  as  his  heir  Manasseh,  a  child 
twelve  years  old  (696).  The  regency  was  the 
signal  for  a  libertine  reaction  which  lasted  sixty 
years.  The  long  reign  of  Manasseh  —  more 
than  half  a  century  —  bore  the  same  relation  to 
Hezekiah's  reign  as  did  the  restoration  of  the 
Stuarts  to  the  reign  of  Cromwell's  saints  and 
of  the  Puritans.  They  had  had  enough  of  the 
morality  of  Isaiah  and  his  school;  of  these  men 
constantly  inveighing  against  the  people  of  the 
world,  ever  talking  of  an  insolent,  angry  God, 
these  men  who  insisted  upon  dwelling  on  the 
miseries  of  one's  neighbor,  as  though  it  were 
not  quite  sufficient  to  be  occupied  with  one's 
own  pleasures.  The  reaction  carried  with  it  the 
prophetic  Jehovah,  his  code  of  morality,  and 
his  social  doctrines.  Jerusalem  again  became 
the  hospitable  rallying  point  of  all  the  gods 
of  Syria,  who  erected  their  altars  even  in  the 
temple  of  Jehovah.  Manasseh  himself,  it  is 
said,  made  his  sons  pass  through  the  fires  of 
Moloch.  Sorcerers,  wizards,  magicians,  were 
all-powerful  at  court,  and  pleasure  reigned  su- 
preme for  an  entire  half-century.2  Prophecy 

1  Isaiah  xi.  1  sq.  *  2  Kings  xxi.  1-9. 


64  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

was  reduced  to  silence ;  there  was  not  a  single 
prophet  in  Manasseh's  time. 

A  child's  regency  had  taken  away  the  power 
of  the  prophets;  a  child's  regency  gave  it  back 
to  them  (639).  A  popular  reaction  of  which 
we  can  see  only  the  effects  without  being  able 
to  follow  its  history,  and  doubtless  superinduced 
by  the  excesses  of  the  old  regime,  brought  the 
proscribed  doctrines  again  into  favor.  This  re- 
action found  a  powerful  exponent  in  the  person 
of  a  priest  of  Benjamin,  Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah  generally  figures  as  the  prophet  of 
the  Jeremiads.  He  owes  this  reputation  to  a 
small  collection  of  elegies  upon  the  fall  of  Jeru- 
salem, of  which  he  is  not  the  author.  In  the 
forty  years  of  his  prophetic  carer  he  preached, 
he  stirred  up,  he  cursed ;  he  lamented  but  little. 
Once  he  lamented  over  the  death  of  King 
Josiah;  but  this  death,  that  shattered  all  his 
dreams  of  the  future,  left  him  no  tears  for  the 
other  events  of  the  century.  With  Jeremiah, 
in  fact,  prophecy  becomes  conscious  of  the  rad- 
ical impossibility  of  realizing,  in  the  present, 
the  reforms  capable  of  saving  the  nation.  He 
abandons  all  hope  of  the  nation  that  is  volun- 
tarily and  inevitably  running  its  ruinous  course, 
and  dreams  only  of  preparing  future  nations 
that  shall  rise  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  present 
one. 

Jeremiah   was   a   priest,    the   first    prophet- 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  65 

priest.  I  hardly  venture  to  go  to  the  length  of 
M.  Renan,  who  sees  in  Jeremiah  a  new  form 
of  prophecy  in  which  the  priest  dominates  the 
prophet.  "The  religious  character,"  says  M. 
Renan,  "becomes  more  pronounced;  the  tribune 
leans  towards  the  priest.  Amos  and  Hosea  — 
and  at  certain  moments  Isaiah  —  astonish  us 
by  their  boldness,  their  love  of  the  people,  their 
disinterestedness  in  regard  to  theological  and 
liturgical  questions.  Their  anger  pleases  us. 
When  they  see  how  unjust  the  world  is,  they 
would  like  to  shatter  it  in  pieces.  They  reason 
somewhat  like  the  anarchists  of  our  day :  if  the 
world  cannot  be  bettered,  it  must  be  destroyed. 
Jeremiah  is  very  much  less  occupied  with  the 
social  question,  and  with  the  triumph  of  the 
anavim.  He  is,  above  all,  a  pious  man,  char- 
acterized by  a  rigid  morality.  He  is  a  fanatic, 
it  must  be  confessed,  full  of  hatred  towards  his 
adversaries,  stigmatizing  all  who  do  not  at  once 
admit  his  prophetic  mission  as  reprobates,  for 
whom  he  wishes  and  foretells  death."1  I,  for 
my  part,  confess  that  I  find  it  difficult  to  rec- 
ognize, in  the  substance  of  the  utterances  of 
Jeremiah,  any  essential  characteristic  that  dis- 
tinguishes him  from  previous  prophets.  Priest 
he  undoubtedly  was,  and  from  the  historical 
texts  it  is  evident  that  he  exercised  considerable 
influence  upon  the  caste  to  which  he  belonged. 

1  Histoire  du  peuple  cF  Israel,  iii.  p.  154. 


66  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

It  is  probable  that  he  accomplished  its  conver- 
sion to  prophetic  Jehovism,  and  availed  him- 
self of  it  to  bring  about  the  triumph  of  his 
platform.  But  the  priest  in  him  is  merely  the 
servant  and  the  instrument  of  the  prophet; 
in  him,  as  in  Isaiah,  the  prophet  is  uppermost, 
that  is  to  say,  the  reformer  of  the  moral  life,  of 
the  social  life,  of  the  political  life.  The  only 
difference  lies  in  the  singular  personal  charac- 
ter of  the  man,  and  in  the  equally  singular  cir- 
cumstances that  surrounded  him.  Jeremiah  is 
certainly  the  natural  and  legitimate  successor  of 
Isaiah,  but  with  a  ruggedness  of  character,  an 
intensity  of  conviction,  an  indomitable  courage, 
and  a  contempt  for  all  conventionalities  and 
popular  prejudices,  that  make  of  him  an  un- 
equaled  individual  in  the  most  individual  group 
of  men  that  ever  existed.  He  did  not  make 
his  appearance,  like  Isaiah,  at  a  comparatively 
happy  time :  he  appeared  at  an  unfortunate  mo- 
ment, at  a  time  of  irreparable  blunders,  in  the 
furnace  of  final  catastrophes.  He  is  the  prophet 
of  the  Finis  Hierosolymce  ! 

Jeremiah  commenced  his  propaganda  in  his 
native  village  of  Anathoth.  The  ground  was 
doubtless  not  very  favorable,  nor  the  authorities 
very  patient;  his  compatriots  drove  him  away 
with  threats  of  death.  He  left  Anathoth  with 
Job's  sad  question  on  his  lips:  "Thou  art  al- 
ways righteous,  O  Jehovah,  and  how  can  I 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  67 

argue  against  thee?  Yet  must  I  tell  thee  that 
which  I  think.  Why  does  the  way  of  the 
wicked  prosper?  Why  do  those  who  deal  treach- 
erously live  in  peace?  Thou  hast  planted  them 
and  they  have  taken  root,  they  grow  and  they 
bring  forth  fruit;  and  nevertheless  thou  art 
near  their  lips  only,  and  far  from  their  heart. 
And  me,  Jehovah,  thou  knowest,  me  thou  hast 
seen,  thou  hast  tried  my  heart." l  But  in  spite 
of  all  his  trials,  he  is  filled  with  the  absorb- 
ing and  overwhelming  certainty  of  his  mission ; 
and  it  saves  him  from  discouragement.  "Be- 
fore I  formed  thee  in  thy  mother's  womb  I 
knew  thee,  said  the  Lord;  before  thou  earnest 
forth  out  of  her  entrails,  I  had  sanctified  thee 
and  had  ordained  thee  prophet  to  the  nations. 
Then  said  I,  Alas,  Lord  Jehovah,  I  cannot 
speak,  I  am  but  a  child.  And  Jehovah  an- 
swered :  Say  not,  I  am  but  a  child ;  to  all  that 
I  shall  send  thee  thou  shalt  go;  and  whatso- 
ever I  command  thee,  thou  shalt  speak.  Be 
not  afraid  before  them,  for  I  am  with  thee  to 
protect  thee,  the  word  of  the  Eternal.  And 
Jehovah  put  forth  his  hand,  and  touched  my 
lip,  and  said  unto  me:  Behold,  I  put  my 
words  on  thy  lip.  Lo,  I  have  this  day  set  thee 
over  the  nations  and  over  the  kingdoms,  to  root 
out  and  to  pull  down,  to  destroy  and  to  demol- 
ish, to  build  and  to  plant."2 

1  Jeremiah  xi.  21  sq. ;  xii.  sq.  2  Jeremiah  i.  5  sq. 


68  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISEAEL. 

Jeremiah  proceeded  from  Anathoth  to  Jeru- 
salem, the  place  where  the  battle  was  to  be  won 
or  lost.  There  he  found  unhoped-for  auxilia- 
ries in  the  temple  itself.  The  high  priest  Hil- 
kiah  was  won  over  to  the  prophetic  cause,  and 
prophecy,  stifled  under  Manasseh,  was  revived 
in  the  heart  of  a  woman,  the  prophetess  Hul- 
dah.1  The  young  prophet  of  Anathoth  brought 
fresh  ardor  and  energy  into  this  charged  at- 
mosphere that  was  merely  awaiting  a  directing 
force.  Had  he  a  personal  influence  upon  the 
young  king  scarcely  twenty -two  years  old  ?  Per- 
haps. In  any  case,  the  apostleship  of  Jeremiah 
was  a  fortunate  one,  and  scarcely  four  years 
had  passed  when  a  decisive  event  occurred. 
The  news  suddenly  spread  that  the  high  priest 
Hilkiah  had  found  in  the  temple  the  "Book  of 
the  Law  of  Jehovah."  The  king  had  the  book 
read  to  him  from  beginning  to  end,  and  this 
reading  moved  him  so  deeply  that  he  had  it 
read  publicly  before  all  the  assembled  people, 
and  promulgated  it  as  the  law  of  the  nation.2 

Modern  criticism  has  demonstrated,  in  a 
manner  leaving  little  room  for  doubt,  that  this 
book  of  the  Law,  found  again,  it  is  said,  in  the 
temple,  is  no  other  than  the  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy, that  fine,  systematic  summary  of  Mo- 
saic legislation  that  comes  at  the  close  of  the 
present  Pentateuch.  Moreover,  it  is  probable 

1  2  Kings  xxii.  8  sq.  . 2  2  Kings  xxiii. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  69 

that  the  book  handed  to  Josiah  was  in  any  case 
revised,  if  not  composed,  by  the  prophets  of 
that  time,  and  for  some  immediate  purpose. 
This  has  often  been  spoken  of  as  a  pious  fraud. 
The  term  is  but  half  exact,  and  can  only  be 
applied  to  the  mise  en  scene;  for  the  essence  of 
the  book  contained  not  an  idea,  not  a  precept, 
not  a  threat,  not  a  promise,  that  had  not  been 
in  the  mouth  of  the  prophets  for  the  last  two 
centuries.  Not  a  line  of  it  was  written  for 
the  purpose  of  introducing  a  new  idea  under 
cover  of  an  ancient  authority,  the  peculiar  mark 
of  an  Apocrypha.  Deuteronomy  was,  indeed, 
the  book  of  the  Law  of  Jehovah,  such  as  the 
first  prophets  already  had  in  mind  for  Judah. 
When  the  prophets  spoke  of  the  law  of  Jeho- 
vah, they  were  asked:  "Where  is  this  famous 
law?  Tell  us,  once  for  all,  what  it  demands  of 
us."  A  book  was  needed  to  close  the  mouth  of 
the  scoffers,  to  settle  the  disputed  points  among 
men  of  good  intent,  to  substitute  the  permanent 
authority  of  the  written  word  for  the  fleeting 
influence  of  speech.  Preaching  may  create  a 
religious  ferment;  to  bring  this  ferment  to 
an  issue  a  document  is  needed.  What  made 
the  Book  of  the  Law  an  entirely  new  thing, 
overpowering  even  to  many  who  had  had  the 
law  dinned  incessantly  into  their  ears,  was  the 
fact  that  for  the  first  time  it  appeared  in  its 
entirety  as  a  systematic  and  coherent  whole. 


70  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

"This  code,"  says  M.  Kenan,  "was  one  of  the 
boldest  attempts  that  has  ever  been  made  to 
shelter  the  weak;"  and,  more  efficacious  than 
the  intermittent  and  scattered  utterances  of  the 
prophets,  it  appealed  to  ready  minds  with  all 
its  accumulated  force. 

We  do  not  know  how  far  the  new  law  was 
applied  and  became  the  code  of  the  State.  The 
book  of  Kings  is  the  work  of  the  sacerdotal 
caste,  and  gives  us  full  information  only  regard- 
ing the  purification  of  worship,  which  especially 
interested  the  clergy,  and  which  was,  moreover, 
comparatively  easy  of  accomplishment.  Kitual 
precepts  were  applied  rigorously,  strange  cults 
were  proscribed,  the  idolatrous  priests  were  ex- 
pelled, those  who  had  sacrificed  in  the  temple 
were  put  to  death ;  and  the  valley  of  Gehenna, 
where  human  offerings  had  taken  place,  was 
defiled.1  But  it  is  easier  to  reform  a  cult  than 
the  soul,  and  in  the  material  triumph  of  Je- 
hovism  the  old  prophetic  protest  continued: 
"When  I  commanded  you  the  day  that  I 
brought  you  out  of  Egypt,  was  it  concerning 
burnt-offerings  or  sacrifices?"2 

Josiah  was  only  twenty-six  years  old  at  the 
time  of  the  promulgation  of  Neo-Jehovism 
(637).  A  long  reign,  like  that  of  Manasseh, 
might  perhaps  have  brought  about  its  realiza- 
tion in  the  law  and  customs,  as  it  was  realized 

1  2  Kings  xxiii.  3-24.  2  Jeremiah  vii.  22. 

f 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  71 

in  the  cult.     Unfortunately  Josiah  was  caught 
in  the  whirl  of  foreign  politics  and  perished. 

Asia  was  upturned  by  a  formidable  revolu- 
tion. Assyria  had  succumbed  to  the  coalition 
of  nations  that  she  had  so  long  trodden  under 
foot,  and  had  gone  down  to  rejoin  her  victims  in 
Sheol,  where  she  was  greeted  by  the  exultation 
of  the  prophets:  "Nineveh  is  laid  waste,  who 
will  bemoan  her?  Where  are  her  comforters? 
Thy  shepherds  slumber,  O  King  of  Ashur; 
thy  captains  are  in  repose.  And  all  those  that 
hear  of  thee  shall  clap  their  hands;  for  over 
whom  has  not  thy  everlasting  ferocity  passed?  " 1 
Babylon  and  Chaldea  had  directed  the  assault 
against  Nineveh.  But  Egypt,  rejuvenated  for 
a  time  under  the  dynasty  of  Psammetichus, 
attempted  to  seize  the  empire  of  the  world, 
dropped  by  Nineveh,  before  Chaldea  had  grasped 
it.  Necho,  the  king  of  Egypt,  marched  towards 
the  Euphrates.  Josiah,  vassal  of  Babylonia,2 
believed  it  his  duty  to  bar  the  way  against  the 
adversary  of  his  suzerain.  "I  have  no  quarrel 
with  thee,  king  of  Judah,"  Necho  said  to  him. 
Despite  this  proclamation,  Josiah  marched 
against  the  Egyptian,  and  met  him  at  Megiddo. 

1  Nahnm  iii.  7,  18,  19. 

2  The  alliance  -with  Babylon,  the  rival  of   Nineveh,  as  the 
only  means  of   counterbalancing  the   formidable    advance  of 
Assyrian  conquest,  was  a  part   of  the  political  traditions  of 
Judah  since  the  days  of  Sennacherib  and  Hezekiah.     2  Kings 
xx. ;  Isaiah  xxxix. 


72  THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Here  Josiah  fell,  pierced  by  an  arrow,  and  was 
brought  back  to  Jerusalem  to  die;  the  men 
and  women  sang  lamentations  over  him,  that 
for  a  long  time  were  revived  each  year  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  disaster.  Jeremiah  com- 
posed an  elegy,  which  is  lost,  upon  the  young 
king,  with  whom  died  the  future  of  reform.1 
His  son  Jehoahaz,  crowned  king  immediately 
thereafter,  was  dethroned  by  Necho,  and  after 
a  three  months'  reign  was  taken  captive  to 
Egypt.  "Weep  ye  not  for  the  dead,"  ex- 
claimed Jeremiah,  "do  not  bemoan  him;  weep 
rather  for  him  that  goes  away,  for  he  shall  re- 
turn no  more,  and  not  see  his  native  land 
again!  "2 

The  death  struggle  of  Judah  began.  Necho 
had  installed  as  king  Jehoiakim,  another  son  of 
Josiah  (608-598).  Judah  became  an  additional 
prize  for  Egypt  in  her  struggle  against  Baby- 
lon. In  order  not  to  be  crushed  between  two 
formidable  adversaries,  Judah  had  need  of 
much  political  skill  and  much  loyalty.  Josi- 
ah' s  successors  possessed  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other.  The  policy  of  the  prophets  was  to 
remain  faithful  to  Babylon,  with  whom  Judah 
had  been  allied  since  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  and 
who  had  delivered  the  world  from  Nineveh. 
Josiah  fell  at  Megiddo,  a  victim  to  this  policy. 


1  2  Kings  rail.  29  ;  2  Chronicles  xxxv.  24,  25. 

2  Jeremiah  xxii.  10. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  73 

It  was  the  policy  of  Jeremiah,  who  doubtless  had 
approved,  perhaps  counseled,  Jqsiah's  course; 
for  otherwise,  instead  of  weeping  at  his  tomb, 
he  would,  according  to  his  usual  style,  have 
hurled  anathemas  against  him.  Egypt,  how- 
ever, was  obliged  to  retreat  in  the  great  duel 
with  Babylonia.  Egypt's  sole  power  lay  in  the 
memory  of  her  past,  so  that  Babylon  against 
Egypt  represented  a  powerful  reality  fighting 
with  a  shadow.  Necho,  defeated  at  Karke- 
mish,  fled  from  the  Euphrates  up  the  Nile; 
Nebuchadnezzar  appeared  before  Jerusalem,  and 
received  the  homage  of  Jehoiakim.  Though 
their  political  duty  was  clear,  the  young  men 
who  succeeded  one  another  on  the  throne  of 
Jerusalem  did  not  perceive  it.  They  intrigued 
with  Egypt,  worn  out  as  she  was,  and  gave  ear 
to  her  promises,  leaning  upon  the  reed  that 
pierced  their  hands.  Three  years  later,  after 
his  submission  to  the  Chaldean,  Jehoiakim  threw 
off  the  yoke,  and  refused  to  pay  tribute.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  A  first  deporta- 
tion, and  the  pillage  of  the  temple  cut  short  the 
rebellion  (598).  Jehoiakim  died  during  the 
war;  his  son  Jehoiachin,  aged  eighteen,  after 
three  months'  reign  and  siege,  was  carried  cap- 
tive to  Babylonia  to  die.  The  last  son  of  Jo- 
siah,  and  the  last  king  of  Jerusalem,  Zedekiah, 
renewed  the  mad  attempt ;  which  brought  about 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  the  capture  and  destruc- 


74  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

tion  of  the  city,  the  burning  down  of  the  tem- 
ple, the  deportation  of  the  upper  classes  (588 
B.  C.). 

From  the  first  days  of  Jehoiakim,  it  was  quite 
evident  that  not  only  the  external  policy  of 
Josiah  was  abandoned,  but  also  his  internal 
policy,  the  policy  of  prophetic  reformation. 
Necho,  in  installing  Jehoiakim,  had  imposed  a 
heavy  tribute  upon  him ;  and  in  order  to  obtain 
the  necessary  gold,  Jehoiakim  was  obliged  to 
oppress  the  people.  The  reconstruction  of  the 
country  would  have  necessitated  many  modest 
virtues,  —  first  and  foremost,  economy.  He 
thought  only  of  building  himself  new  palaces, 
in  the  manner  of  the  kings,  by  mea^s  of  statute 
labor.  And  yet  the  law  of  Jehovah  said, 
"Thou  shalt  not  hold  back  the  wages  of  the 
laborer; "  and  Jeremiah  came  to  the  door  of  the 
palace  crying,  "Woe  unto  him  that  builds  his 
house  by  unrighteousness,  and  that  uses  his 
neighbor's  service  without  wages.  Shalt  thou 
perchance  be  king  to  hold  up  thy  head  in  pal- 
aces of  cedar?  Thy  father  ate  and  drank  also, 
but  practiced  justice  and  charity;  blessed  be 
he!  He  exercised  right  to  the  poor  and  the 
lowly;  blessed  be  he!  Therefore  thus  says 
Jehovah  concerning  Jehoiakim,  the  son  of  Jo- 
siah, king  of  Judah:  Wailers  shall  not  lament 
for  him,  saying:  Ah,  my  brother!  ah,  my  sis- 
ters !  they  shall  not  lament  for  him,  saying: 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  75 

Where  is  my  lord?  where  is  his  glory?  He 
shall  be  given  the  sepulchre  of  an  ass,  to  be 
dragged  and  thrown  far  outside  of  the  walls  of 
the  city."1  And  he  hurls  at  royalty  and  the 
ruling  classes  Jehovah's  ultimatum:  "King  of 
Judah  that  sittest  upon  the  throne  of  David, 
thou  and  thy  servants,  and  thy  people  that  enter 
in  by  these  gates !  —  thus  saith  Jehovah :  Exe- 
cute justice  and  charity;  deliver  the  despoiled 
from  the  hand  of  the  oppressor;  do  not  mal- 
treat, do  not  oppress  the  stranger,  the  orphan, 
and  the  widow ;  neither  shed  innocent  blood  in 
this  place.2 

"If  ye  do  according  to  these  words,  then 
shall  there  enter  again  by  the  gates  of  this 
palace,  kings  who  will  seat  themselves  near  Da- 
vid, upon  his  throne,  mounted  upon  chariots 
and  horses,  they  with  their  servants  and  their 
people. 

"  But  if  ye  hear  not  these  words,  I  swear  by 
my  name,  saith  Jehovah,  that  this  house  shall 
be  given  up  to  desolation.  I  have  already  con- 
secrated destroyers  against  thee,  each  with  his 
weapon,  who  shall  cut  down  thy  fine  cedars, 
and  cast  them  into  the  fire."3 

Jehovism  remained  the  religion  of  the  state, 
but  a  religion  devoid  of  meaning.  "Kun  ye  to 

1  Jeremiah  xxii.  13-19. 

2  The  seat  of  the  Court  at  the  palace  gates. 

3  Jeremiah  xxii.  1  sq. 


76  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  fro  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  search 
in  the  public  places.  If  ye  can  find  but  one 
man  that  does  good  and  seeks  right,  I  will 
be  merciful.  But  even  while  saying  Jehovah 
lives,  they  swear  falsely."1  The  blows  with 
which  Jehovah  strikes  them  leave  them  insen- 
sible. The  common  people,  says  the  prophet, 
sin  perhaps  through  ignorance,  because  they 
know  not  the  ways  of  the  Eternal.  I  will  go 
unto  the  great  men  who  know;  but  the  great 
men  are  even  worse  in  regard  to  brutality  and 
luxury:  "I  fed  them  full,  and  they  went  to 
houses  of  debauch;  they  are  stall-fed  and  las- 
civious stallions;  every  man  neighed  after  his 
neighbor's  wife."* 

They  think  it  possible  to  expiate  everything 
with  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices.  Did  God 
ask  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices  of  their  fathers 
when  he  brought  them  out  of  Egypt?  When 
they  came  to  the  temple  to  prostrate  themselves 
before  the  altar,  they  said  to  themselves:  We 
are  saved!  Is  this  temple,  then,  to  which  I 
have  attached  my  name,  become  a  mere  rob- 
ber's den?  Well  then,  let  them  go  to  Shiloh3 
and  see  what  Jehovah  has  made  of  the  sanc- 


1  Jeremiah  v.  1  sq. 

2  Jeremiah  v.  8.    A  good  definition  of  the  theatre  or  novel 
of  to-day. 

8  The  oldest  and  most  celebrated  of  the  sanctuaries  of  Is- 
rael. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISEAEL.  77 

tuary  of  Israel ;  lie  will  do  to  Judah  as  he  has 
done  to  Israel,  and  to  the  temple  of  Jerusalem 
as  he  has  done  to  the  sanctuary  of  Shiloh.1 

From  day  to  day  the  breach  grows  wider,  the 
disillusion  and  anger  reach  an  extreme.  And 
just  at  this  time  Jehoiakim,  yielding  to  the 
encouragement  of  defenseless  Egypt,  challenges 
Babylonia.  This  was  Judah' s  sentence  of 
death.  Then  Jeremiah  begins  to  toll  the  final 
knell.  Judah 's  wound  is  incurable;  there  is 
no  balm  in  Gilead.2  Let  the  mothers  teach 
their  daughters  wailings,  for  death  mounts  by 
the  windows,  invades  the  palaces,  strikes  down 
the  children  in  the  street,  and  the  young  men 
on  the  public  places.3  The  vague  and  constant 
threat  of  dismemberment,  ruin,  and  exile,  that 
the  prophets  had  for  two  centuries  held  over 
the  crimes  and  sins  of  their  people,  became 
finally  a  dread  and  imminent  reality,  and  it  was 
the  blinded  king  who  brought  it  upon  himself. 
"Because  ye  have  not  heard  my  words,  behold 
I  will  enlist  all  the  tribes  of  the  north,  and  with 
them  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  king  of  Babylon,  my 
servant,  and  will  bring  them  against  this  land 
and  its  inhabitants.  And  I  shall  cause  to  cease 
among  you  the  voice  of  mirth  and  the  voice  of 
gladness,  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  the 
voice  of  the  bride,  the  sound  of  the  millstones, 

1  Jeremiah  vii.  11-14.  2  Jeremiah  viii.  22. 

3  Jeremiah  ix.  20  sq. 


78  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  the  light  of  the  torches."  1  And  from  day 
to  day  he  goes  to  the  door  of  the  temple,  and  to 
the  door  of  the  palace,  to  announce  the  inevi- 
table catastrophes  which  he  sees  already  pres- 
ent, and  in  announcing  them  he  seems  to  invoke 
them.  He  is  exposed  to  the  jeers  of  the  people, 
whom  he  frightens  and  angers  by  his  predic- 
tions of  misfortune;  to  those  of  the  soldiers, 
whose  indignation  he  arouses;  to  those  of  the 
false  prophets,  in  quest  of  easy  popularity,  who 
please  the  people  by  predicting  impossible  vic- 
tories. But  God  makes  of  him  a  column  of 
iron,  a  brazen  wall,  against  Judah,  her  kings, 
her  chiefs,  her  priests,  and  her  common  people. 
For  a  while,  however,  he  grows  weary  of  the 
cruelty  of  his  role,  and  of  the  outrages  that  are 
heaped  upon  him.  "  Woe  is  me,  oh  my  mother, 
that  thou  hast  borne  me,  a  man  of  strife,  at  war 
with  every  one,  and  whom  every  one  curses."2 
He  would  remain  silent,  to  escape  from  the 
inner  voice,  from  the  yoke  of  the  divine  mis- 
sion; but  Jehovah  beguiles  and  compels  him. 
He  is  the  laughing-stock  and  the  terror  of 
every  one ;  for  each  time  he  raises  his  voice  he 
is  obliged  to  complain,  to  announce  violence 
and  perils,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  merely 
brings  shame  and  opprobrium  upon  him. 
"Then  I  said:  I  will  no  longer  speak  of  him, 
I  will  no  longer  speak  in  his  name:  but  his 

1  Jeremiah  xxv.  9,  10.        2  Jeremiah  XT.  10 ;  xx.  14  sq. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  79 

word  was  in  my  heart,  like  a  burning  fire  shut 
up  in  my  bones ;  I  was  worn  out  with  keeping 
it,  and  I  could  not  do  otherwise." l 

For  the  first  time  Jerusalem  is  taken  (598); 
the  higher  classes  are  deported  to  Babylon. 
The  poor  little  king  Jehoiachin  goes  to  expiate, 
in  exile,  the  folly  of  his  father:  "As  I  live, 
saith  the  Eternal,  though  Jehoiachin  the  son  of 
Jehoiakim,  king  of  Judah,  were  the  signet  upon 
my  right  hand,  yet  would  I  pluck  him  hence. 
.  .  .  And  I  will  cast  thee  out,  thee  and  thy 
mother  that  bare  thee,  into  a  strange  country, 
where  ye  were  not  born,  to  die  there.  And  the 
land  whereunto  their  soul  desires  to  return, 
thither  shall  they  not  return.  Wherefore  is  he 
cast  out,  he  and  his  race,  into  a  land  which 
they  know  not?  Wherefore  shall  none  of  his 
blood  sit  upon  the  throne  of  David?  Because 
the  shepherds  of  the  people  of  God  have  per- 
mitted their  flock  to  go  astray  and  be  scattered. 
.  .  .  But  God  will  gather  his  erring  sheep, 
and  give  them  shepherds,  who  shall  let  them 
pasture  without  losing  any  of  them."2 

A  new  reign  began ;  and  the  very  uncertainty 
of  the  future  gave  rise  to  a  last  fresh  hope. 
The  new  king,  Zedekiah,  son  of  Josiah,  was 
weak  but  well-intentioned.  One  of  his  first 
acts  seemed  to  herald  a  new  Josiah,  and  to 
prove  that  the  policy  of  reform  would  again 

1  Jeremiah  xx.  9  sq.     2  Jeremiah  xxii.  24  sq. ;  xxiii.  1  sq. 


80  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

prevail,  the  prophetic  programme  be  realized. 
The  book  of  Deuteronomy  restored  the  legal 
freedom  of  every  Hebrew  slave  who  had  served 
for  six  years.  Zedekiah  called  together  the 
grandees  and  all  the  slave -owners,  and  pro- 
claimed the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  who 
were  thereupon  set  at  liberty.  But  on  the  mor- 
row succeeding  this  night  of  the  fourth  of 
August,  the  wealthy  already  regretted  their 
generosity,  which  had  perhaps  been  wrested 
from  them  in  an  unguarded  moment.  The  act 
of  enfranchisement  was  rescinded,  and  the  slaves 
returned  to  their  former  condition.  It  was  one 
of  those  incidents  that  suddenly  show  the  depth 
of  the  abyss  to  which  a  society  has  fallen,  inca- 
pable of  being  saved,  and  it  drew  from  Jere- 
miah a  terrible  cry  that  heralds  the  irrevocable 
decree  of  divine  justice:  "You  have  made  your 
brothers  return  to  slavery,  you  have  refused  to 
proclaim  their  liberty ;  verily  I,  —  by  the  word 
of  Jehovah !  —  I  will  abandon  you  to  the  liberty 
of  the  sword,  of  pestilence,  of  famine!  "  J 

Zedekiah  in  turn  falls  into  the  snare  of  the 
Egyptian  alliance,  and  soon  the  Babylonian 
troops  again  encamp  in  front  of  Jerusalem,  this 
time  without  hope  of  pardon.  Egypt  has  aban- 
doned Judah  in  the  hour  of  peril.  And  Jere- 
miah resumes  with  fresh  frenzy  his  preaching 
of  death.  He  is  begged  to  question  Jehovah, 

1  Jeremiah  xxxiv.  17. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  81 

to  ask  of  him  some  of  those  miracles  to  which 
he  had  accustomed  them  of  old.  Balaam,  called 
upon  to  curse  Israel,  blessed;  Jeremiah,  called 
upon  to  bless,  could  only  curse.  Jehovah  shall 
come  himself  to  combat  Judah,  to  strike  man 
and  beast  with  the  pestilence,  to  deliver  his  offi- 
cers and  the  people  to  Nebuchadnezzar  the  king, 
to  be  exterminated  without  pity  and  without 
mercy.  Zedekiah  secretly  sends  for  Jeremiah 
and  asks:  "Hast  thou  anything  to  tell  me 
from  Jehovah?"  "Yes,  that  thou  shalt  be  de- 
livered to  the  king  of  Babylon."  And  he 
taunts  them  with  the  advice  that  they  followed : 
"  Where  are  now  your  prophets  who  have  misled 
you,  who  prophesied  unto  you  that  the  king  of 
Babylon  would  not  come  again  against  Jerusa- 
lem?" Though  cast  into  prison,  he  continues 
before  the  people  who  flock  to  hear  him: 
"He  that  remaineth  in  this  city  shall  die  by 
the  sword,  by  the  famine,  and  by  the  pestilence, 
but  he  that  goeth  forth  to  the  Chaldeans  shall 
be  saved."  The  chiefs  of  the  army  beseech  the 
king  to  have  him  put  to  death,  "for  he  weakens 
the  hands  of  the  men  of  war,  and  of  the  people, 
by  speaking  such  words  to  them."  They  let 
him  down  into  a  pit,  where  he  sinks  in  the  mire 
to  his  arms,  and  when  he  is  raised  up,  the 
only  words  that  can  be  forced  from  him  are: 
"The  surrender  or  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem." No  orator  has  ever  made  use  of  more 


82  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

eloquence  and  heroism,  in  preaching  resistance  to 
the  utmost,  than  did  Jeremiah  in  urging  sur- 
render and  the  abnegation  of  the  national  honor. 
Judged  by  our  modern  laws  and  customs,  Jere- 
miah was  a  traitor.  He  was  a  traitor  also  in  the 
eyes  of  the  last  chiefs  of  the  army  of  Jerusalem. 
But  what  constitutes  precisely  the  unheard-of 
grandeur  of  the  man  is  that  this  traitor  to  his 
country  was  a  patriot  of  patriots.  Jeremiah 
is  by  no  means  a  saint  or  a  fanatic  who  would 
destroy  the  terrestrial  city  for  a  celestial  one. 
Although  Christianity  proceeds  from  the  pro- 
phets, there  is  nothing  Christian  in  this  sense 
even  in  Jeremiah;  no  more  than  in  any  other 
of  the  prophets.  What  he  dreams  of,  as  did  all 
his  predecessors,  is  a  Jewish  nation  on  native 
soil,  with  the  national  capital,  —  Jerusalem ; 
with  a  national  dynasty,  —  that  of  David ;  with 
a  law  of  justice,  of  piety,  of  morality,  — that  of 
Jehovah.  These  enlightened  men  understood 
what  folly  it  was  for  insignificant  Judah  to 
attempt  to  play  a  political  and  victorious  role 
in  the  midst  of  the  great  military  monarchies  of 
Asia  and  Africa.  Israel  was  not  at  all  equipped 
for  the  part  of  persisting  for  centuries  in 
the  bloody  path  of  force  and  of  chance;  of 
intriguing  with  one  nation  to-day,  with  another 
to  -  morrow  ;  of  behaving  in  the  manner  of 
other  nations,  — devouring  one's  neighbor,  and 
being  devoured  by  him  in  turn.  Her  princes 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISEAEL.  83 

and  chiefs  may  have  thirsted  for  it,  but  her 
talons  were  not  sufficiently  powerful.  The  pro- 
phets had  in  mind  for  her  a  different  part,  —  to 
raise,  in  the  midst  of  the  nations,  the  standard  of 
the  eternal  law.  "  I  have  placed  you  as  a  light  in 
the  midst  of  the  nations."  At  the  very  moment 
when  this  dream  became  embodied  and  real, 
when  the  law  that  was  destined  to  bring  about 
justice  and  peace  in  the  world  mounted  the 
throne  of  Judah,  at  that  moment  childish 
fools  and  intriguers,  politicians  and  charla- 
tans, dragged  Israel  to  her  mental  and  moral 
ruin,  and,  for  the  pleasure  of  playing  at  the* 
game  of  diplomacy,  destroyed  both  the  temporal 
nation  and  its  universal  mission  for  all  time. 
If  Jeremiah  had  allowed  himself  to  perish  at 
the  time  of  the  destruction,  or  if  he  had  hidden 
his  despair  in  his  heart,  and  had  said  to  himself 
that  it  is  scarcely  generous  to  triumph  at  the 
sight  of  the  perishing  people,  and  had  witnessed 
the  ruin  of  Jerusalem  in  silence,  the  world 
would  perhaps  be  no  worse  off  than  it  is  to-day, 
but  humanity  would  have  missed  the  sound  of 
words  which  can  still  save  her,  and  which  have 
consoled  her  for  twenty-six  centuries.  The 
Decalogue  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  could 
never  have  emanated  from  Babylon,  nor  from 
Athens  or  Rome.  Jeremiah  displayed  the 
unparalleled  heroism  of  fighting  against  his 
country  false  to  herself,  for  the  benefit  of 


84  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

a  future  country  which  was  not  yet  born,  and 
which  as  yet  existed  only  in  his  heart  and  in 
that  of  some  disciples.  He  would  doubtless 
have  preferred,  as  he  unceasingly  preached,  a 
prompt  submission  to  Babylon,  which,  by  insur- 
ing the  existence  of  the  nation,  would  have 
made  reform  the  rallying  point  of  the  temple 
and  of  political  tradition;  but  since  rational 
counsels  were  powerless,  destiny  had  to  take  its 
course,  and  an  entirely  new  future  be  prepared 
by  the  present  annihilation  of  the  nation.  A 
new  nation  shall  arise  out  of  the  one  destroyed. 
From  the  time  of  the  first  deportation,  that 
of  King  Jehoiachin,  Jeremiah  was  convinced  that 
the  Judah  of  the  prophetic  ideal  could  not  take 
root  in  the  Holy  Land  until  the  actual  Judah  had 
been  uprooted.  The  first  exiles  rebelled  at  the 
idea  of  an  indefinite  exile ;  they  dreamed  of  a  tri- 
umphant return  to  their  brethren,  and  the  patri- 
otic prophets  talked  of  a  miraculous  intervention 
in  their  behalf.  Two  of  them,  Ahab  and  Zede- 
kiah,  were  cast  by  Nebuchadnezzar  into  a  fiery 
furnace.1  The  aggressive  foresight  of  Jeremiah 
was  more  successful  than  were  the  king's  execu- 
tioners in  dispelling  these  idle  illusions.  Letters 
from  him  circulated  among  the  exiles,  discour- 
aging them  with  regard  to  their  own  country, 

1  Source  of  the  legend  of  the  three  friends  of  Daniel  cast 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  into  the  fiery  furnace,  who  were  pro- 
tected by  God.  Jeremiah  xxix.  22 ;  Daniel  chap.  iii. 


THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  85 

begging  them  to  accept  the  exile  in  Babylonia, 
to  plant  and  to  build,  to  marry  and  to  multiply 
there,  and  not  to  allow  themselves  to  be  seduced 
by  the  prophets  who  held  out  false  hopes.  At 
the  end  of  seventy  years  the  Lord,  faithful  to 
his  promises,  would  bring  them  back  again  to 
their  native  land.  The  prophet's  idea  revealed 
itself  with  remarkable  clearness ;  the  span  of  a 
human  life 1  had  to  intervene  between  the  con- 
demned nation  and  the  nation  of  the  future ;  it 
was  necessary,  as  at  the  time  of  the  other  "  Ex- 
odus," that  no  child  of  a  corrupt  nation  should 
enter  into  the  promised  land.  A  new  race  was 
needed,  nourished  entirely  by  the  prophetic 
teachings,  far  from  the  troubling  influences  of 
old  factions,  far  from  worldly  ambitions,  and 
from  all  political  traditions,  so  that  an  abso- 
lutely new  nation  might  be  produced,  fashioned 
according  to  the  heart  of  Jehovah  and  of  the  pro- 
phets. Then  Rachel,  who  weeps  at  Ramah  for 
the  loss  of  her  children,  will  weep  no  more,  and 
shall  be  consoled.8  Jehovah  will  bring  them  all 
back  from  the  lands  whither  his  anger  has  scat- 
tered them;  he  will  again  lead  them  into  the 
Holy  Land.  And  he  will  make  a  new  covenant 
with  the  house  of  Israel  and  the  house  of  Judah, 
but  not  again  like  the  one  he  made  with  their 

1  "  What  is  the  number  of  our  years  ?     Seventy  or  at  the 
most  eighty."  —  Psalms  xc.  10. 

2  Jeremiah  xxxi.  15. 


86  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

fathers  at  the  departure  from  Egypt,  and  which 
they  broke;  for  he  will  put  his  law  in  their 
bosom  and  write  it  in  their  hearts,  so  that  he 
shall  be  their  God  and  they  shall  be  his  people. 
And  Jerusalem  shall  be  rebuilt,  never  again  to 
be  destroyed.1 

That  very  year  Jerusalem  and  the  temple 
were  burned.  King  Zedekiah  had  his  eyes 
plucked  out  before  Nebuchadnezzar,  after  his 
sons  had  been  slaughtered  in  his  presence. 
New  troops  of  exiles  bent  their  steps  across 
the  desert  towards  the  provinces  of  Babylonia 
(588). 

VI. 

Among  the  first  exiles  was  Ezekiel,  a  man 
brought  up  in  the  school  of  Jeremiah.  He  was, 
like  Jeremiah,  a  priest,  but  more  imbued  with 
the  sacerdotal  idea ;  not  through  caste  prejudice, 
but  because  every  material  rallying  point  was 
lost  in  the  sudden  downfall  of  the  nation,  and 
it  became  imperative  to  have  a  visible  sign  of 
unity,  a  symbol  of  future  nationality.  A  sacred 
nation  cannot  be  created  by  the  State;  it  re- 
quires a  ritual.  Sacerdotal  development  was 
the  necessary  consequence  of  political  annihi- 
lation. 

Ezekiel  is  considered  the  most  obscure  of  the 
prophets.  In  fact,  he  often  carries  to  an  extreme 

1  Jeremiah  xxxii.  36  sq. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  87 

limit  the  processes  of  symbolism  in  which  the  an- 
cient prophets  delighted.  From  the  bizarre  and 
fantastic  spectacle  presented  to  his  eyes  by  the 
art  and  civilization  of  Chaldea  he  absorbed 
a  number  of  complicated  and  strange  images. 
He  is  the  father  of  the  Cabbala,1  and  he  is 
the  first  to  fill  the  foaming  cup  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse in  order  to  pass  it  over  to  Daniel,  Enoch, 
John  of  Patmos,  and  many  others.  But  be- 
neath obscure  and  puzzling  symbolism,  his 
thought  is  developed  with  an  amount  of  clear- 
ness and  logic  displayed  by  no  other  prophet. 

As  long  as  Jerusalem  stood,  as  long  as  the 
struggle  between  Israel  and  Babylon  continued, 
Ezekiel  echoed  Jeremiah's  cry  of  malediction,  — 
echoed  it  in  Israel,  which  was  torn  between 
the  old,  commonplace,  carnal  world  that  would 
not  die,  and  a  new  world,  animated  with  the 
divine  spirit,  striving  to  disengage  itself  from 
the  corpse  to  which  it  was  tied.  He  sees  Je- 
hovah's sword  taken  from  the  scabbard,  and 
drawn  against  the  wicked  and  the  just,  from 
north  to  south.  Jerusalem  relies  in  vain  upon 
her  senseless  prophets  who  mislead  her  —  jack- 
als howling  in  the  ruins.2  "If  they  ask  thee, 
Wherefore  groanest  thou?  thou  shalt  answer, 
For  a  message,  which  when  it  comes  3  shall  melt 
every  heart,  shall  enfeeble  every  hand,  shall 

1  Ezekiel  i.  2  Ezekiel  xiii.  3  sq. 

3  The  news  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 


88  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

humble  every  spirit,  paralyze  every  knee.  The 
sword  is  sharpened  for  slaughter  and  carnage, 
furbished  that  it  may  glitter;  it  is  sharpened 
and  furbished  to  be  given  into  the  hand  of  the 
slayer.  And  it  shall  come  upon  my  people, 
upon  the  princes  of  Israel.  Because  Judah  is 
become  dross,  Jehovah  shall  gather  her  into  the 
midst  of  Jerusalem,  as  in  a  crucible,  to  melt 
her  in  the  fire  of  his  anger." 1 

The  fatal  crisis,  so  long  foretold,  conies  at 
last:  Jerusalem  is  in  ashes.  And  now  all  the 
wrath  of  Ezekiel  falls;  for  now  the  hour  is 
come  to  prepare  the  country  of  the  future. 
Jehovah  wished  not  to  destroy  his  flock,  but 
only  the  bad  shepherds.  The  shepherds  of  Is- 
rael fed  themselves,  instead  of  pasturing  their 
sheep. 

"You  have  nourished  yourselves  with  wool; 
you  have  slain  those  which  were  fat ;  and  have 
not  given  pasture  to  the  flock. 

"You  have  not  strengthened  the  weak,  healed 
the  sick,  nursed  the  wounded,  led  back  the 
wandering,  sought  the  lost  ;  you  have  ruled 
them  with  force  and  with  cruelty. 

"And  now  they  are  scattered,  because  there 
is  no  shepherd,  and  they  have  become  the  prey 
of  all  the  wild  beasts."2 

Therefore  Jehovah  delivers  his  sheep  from 
the  mouth  of  the  bad  shepherd,  and  will 

1  Ezekiel  xxi.  7  sq. ;  xxii.  18  sq.  2  Ezekiel  xxxiv.  1  sq. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  89 

himself  pasture  them.  He  shall  gather  in  all 
countries  the  flock  that  was  scattered  on  the  day 
of  storm,  and  bring  it  to  pasture  on  the  hill  of 
Israel,  under  the  care  of  her  ancient  guides. 
"And  I  will  set  up  one  shepherd  over  them, 
who  shall  feed  them,  my  servant  David,  and  I, 
Jehovah,  will  be  their  god,  and  my  servant 
David  a  prince  among  them."1 

In  the  royal  interregnum,  the  prophet  suc- 
ceeds the  king ;  it  is  for  him  to  revive  the  soul 
of  the  nation.  The  Lord  has  established  him 
as  a  sentinel  responsible  to  the  house  of  Israel, 
for  the  man  who  has  received  the  revelation  of 
the  Lord,  and  keeps  it  to  himself,  is  equally 
culpable  with  the  man  who  violates  it.  "  When 
I  say  unto  the  wicked,  Thou  shalt  die,  and  thou 
givest  him  not  warning  to  enlighten  him,  and 
turn  him  from  his  wicked  way,  to  save  his  life ; 
he,  the  wicked  man,  shall  die  for  his  sin,  but 
thee  will  I  hold  accountable  for  his  blood."2 
For  a  new  justice  shall  enter  the  world,  and 
shall  abolish  the  terrible  hereditary  fatality  that 
requires  each  generation  to  expiate  the  faults 
of  the  preceding,  and  Jehovah  to  punish  the 
sinner  unto  the  fourth  generation.  It  shall  no 
longer  be  said:  "Our  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  our  teeth  are  set  on  edge."3  "The 
son  shall  no  longer  die  for  the  sin  of  the  fathers, 

1  Ezekiel  xxxiv.  23.  2  Ezekiel  iii.  17  sq. 

3  Ezekiel  xviii.  2  ;  comp.  Jeremiah  xxxi.  29. 


90  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  guilty  alone  shall  die :  to  the  righteous  shall 
be  dealt  righteousness,  and  to  the  wicked  wick- 
edness. And  if  the  wicked  turn  from  his  wick- 
edness, and  do  that  which  is  right,  he  shall  not 
die,  he  shall  live ;  for  Jehovah  takes  no  pleasure 
in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  that  he  should 
return  from  his  ways  and  live."  1 

And  in  this  manner  the  future  way  is  pre- 
pared by  this  same  Nebuchadnezzar  who  de- 
stroyed Jerusalem.  All  the  enemies  of  Judah, 
all  those,  great  and  small,  who  oppressed  or 
betrayed  her,  or  led  her  into  temptation,  or  ap- 
plauded her  downfall,  perish  under  the  stroke 
of  the  divine  instrument,  —  Ammon,  Edom,  the 
Philistines  who  howled  with  joy  when  the  sanc- 
tuary was  profaned,  the  country  laid  waste,  the 
people  exiled;  Moab,  who  exclaimed,  "Where 
is  Jehovah?  You  see  indeed  that  Judah  is  like 
other  peoples;"2  Tyre,  the  jealous,  who  ex- 
claimed, "She  is  broken,  the  gate  of  the  na- 
tions, and  it  is  to  me  that  they  now  look  for 
aid;  "  Tyre,  the  beautiful,  the  rich,  the  learned, 
the  mistress  of  the  ocean,  the  centre  of  com- 
merce of  the  world,  into  which  flowed  the  gold 
of  Tarshish,  the  horses  of  Armenia,  the  stones 
of  Aram,  the  ivories  of  Damascus,  the  flocks 
of  Arabia,  the  perfumes  of  Sheba,  the  slaves  of 
Javan.  For  thirteen  years  she  is  besieged  by 

1  Ezekiel  xviii.,  imitated  from  Jeremiah  xxxi.  27  sq. 

2  Ezekiel  xzv. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  91 

Nebuchadnezzar,  and  now  that  she  goes  down 
into  the  sea  with  her  wares,  her  sailors,  and  her 
mercenaries,  the  lament  shall  arise:  "Who  was 
like  unto  Tyre,  to  her  who  perished  in  the  bosom 
of  the  ocean?"1  And  then  comes  the  turn  of 
Egypt,  the  traitress,  who  by  deceitful  alliances 
caused  the  destruction  of  Judah.  "  To  thee,  now, 
Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt,  great  crocodile  cower- 
ing in  thy  river!  But  I  will  put  a  hook  in 
thy  jaws;  I  will  attach  to  thy  scales  all  the 
fish  of  thy  river ;  I  will  drag  thee  into  the  des- 
ert, thee  and  all  the  fish  of  thy  river,  and  thou 
shalt  remain  stranded  upon  the  coast,  and  I 
will  give  thee  as  food  to  the  wild  beasts  and 
to  the  birds  of  heaven."2  And  Pharaoh  slain 
goes  down  to  Sheol  and  is  consoled  at  finding 
there  the  heaped-up  corpses  of  Elam,  Meshech, 
Tubal,  Edom,  and  the  Zidonians,  and  at  the 
very  bottom  of  the  abyss  Asshur  and  her  multi- 
tudes, slain  by  the  sword  for  having  brought 
slaughter  into  the  land  of  the  living.3  Perhaps 
in  the  depths  of  the  prophet's  heart  there  al- 
ready arose  a  hymn  of  triumph  over  the  future 
downfall  of  the  instrument  of  all  this  vengeance, 
the  great  Chaldean  slayer.  For  were  there  not 
some  among  his  victims  of  greater  worth  than 
he?  The  faults  and  the  follies  of  Israel  and 
of  the  world  had  rendered  inevitable  the  un- 

1  Ezekiel  xxvi.,  xxvii.,  xxviii.  2  Ezekiel  xxix.,  xxxi. 

8  Ezekiel  xxxii. 


92  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

bridling  of  the  monster  that  chastened  them,  but 
already  there  were  prophets  who  thought  that 
Jehovah  had  chosen  an  atrocious  avenger. 

"  Art  thou  not,  from  everlasting  time, 
O  Jahve,  our  God,  our  holy  one, 
who  preserveth  us  from  death  ? 

"  Jahve,  thou  hast  established l  him  as  avenger 
Rock,2  thou  hast  appointed  him  to  chastise. 

"  Thou,  whose  eyes  are  too  pure  to  look  upon  iniquity, 
who  canst  not  suffer  the  sight  of  evil, 
how  canst  thou  then  behold  these  perfidious  men  ? 
how  keep  silent  when  the   wicked  devoureth  the   man 
more  righteous  than  he  ? 

"  Thou  hast  reduced  mankind  to  the  state  of  the  fishes, 
of  the  reptiles  of  the  sea,  that  have  no  King. 

"  These  people  fish  for  them  with  their  fish-hooks, 

catch  them  in  their  nets, 

gather  them  in  their  snares, 

then  are  they  content,  they  leap  for  joy. 

"  Shall  we  see  them  always  empty  their  nets 

to  begin  again  to  slay  the  nations,  without  pity  ?  "  8 

And  the  scheme  of  Jehovah   and   the  pro- 
phets unfolds  itself   with   clearness   and  calm 

1  The  Chaldeans. 

2  The  word  sour  (rock)  almost  became  one  of  the  names  for 
God. 

8  Habakkuk  i.   12-17.     [Darmesteter  reproduces  Kenan's 
beautiful  translation.  —  TB.] 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  93 

audacity:  "When  those  of  the  house  of  Israel 
dwelt  in  their  own  land,  they  denied  it  by 
their  conduct  and  their  crimes.  And  I  poured 
my  fury  upon  them  for  the  blood  that  they  had 
shed  upon  the  land,  and  for  the  idols  with 
which  they  had  polluted  it,  and  I  scattered 
them  amongst  the  nations.  .  .  .  And  I  will 
gather  you  out  of  all  the  countries,  and  bring 
you  back  into  your  own  land.  And  I  will  put 
a  new  spirit  within  you.  I  will  take  away  from 
your  bosom  this  heart  of  stone,  and  put  there 
a  heart  of  flesh,  and  you  shall  dwell  in  the  land 
that  I  gave  to  your  fathers;  you  shall  be  my 
people,  and  I  will  be  your  God."1  What!  the 
day  after  the  defeat,  the  dispersion,  the  ruin, 
shall  there  be  room  again  for  a  nation  of  Israel, 
for  a  Jewish  country,  for  a  new  Jerusalem? 
Yes !  And  the  prophet  saw  himself  transported 
in  spirit  to  a  valley  covered  with  bones,  and 
the  Eternal  asked  him :  "  Son  of  man,  can  these 
dead  bones  revive?  Lord  Jehovah,  thou  alone 
knowest.  Well  then!  Prophesy  upon  these 
bones,  and  say  to  them:  Oh,  ye  dry  bones, 
hear  the  word  of  Jehovah.  I  will  cause  breath 
to  enter  you,  that  you  shall  live;  I  will  put 
sinews  upon  you,  and  flesh  and  skin,  and  put 
breath  in  you,  that  you  shall  live  and  know 
Jehovah."  And  while  the  prophet  prophesied 
according  to  the  command,  a  great  noise  arose, 

1  Ezekiel  xxxvi.  17  sq. 


94  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  the  bones  came  together  with  a  crash. 
And  he  beheld  the  sinews,  and  the  flesh  form- 
ing, and  the  skin  spreading  over  them.  But 
there  was  no  breath  in  them.  And  God  says, 
"  Prophesy  unto  the  wind  and  say :  Come  from 
the  four  winds  of  the  earth,  oh  breath!  and 
breathe  into  these  corpses  of  the  slain,  that  they 
may  revive !  And  the  breath  entered  into  them 
and  they  returned  to  life,  and  they  stood  upon 
their  feet,  an  exceedingly  great  concourse.  And 
God  said,  These  bones  are  the  house  of  Israel. 
Israel  says  to  herself:  Our  bones  are  dried,  our 
hope  is  lost,  there  is  an  end  to  us.  .  .  .  Well 
then!  say  to  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  Je- 
hovah :  I  will  open  your  graves,  and  cause  you 
to  come  up  out  of  your  graves,  and  I  will  put 
my  spirit  into  you,  that  you  may  come  back  to 
life,  and  I  will  place  you  in  your  own  land; 
then  shall  you  know  that  I,  Jehovah,  have 
spoken  it  and  have  done  it."1 

Five  years  ago,  while  in  India,  I  met  three 
rabbis,  one  from  Warsaw,  one  from  Jerusalem, 
and  the  third  from  Bokhara,  who  were  making 
a  tour  of  Asia,  seeking  alms  for  their  brethren. 
The  one  from  Jerusalem  told  me  that,  in  the 
course  of  his  wanderings  through  Persia,  he 
had  found,  to  the  north  of  Teheran,  a  village 
named  Gilead,  entirely  peopled  with  Jews,  de- 

1  Ezekiel  xxxvii. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  95 

scended  from  the  bones  resuscitated  by  Ezekiel. 
He  did  not  know  that  he  himself  was  one  of 
these,  and  that  all  Israel  descends  from  these 
corpses  revived  by  prophecy. 

Thus  the  prophet,  transported  in  thought  to 
the  Jerusalem  to  come,  reconstructs  its  temple,1 
describes  its  proportions  and  forms,  organizes 
the  future  priesthood,  the  new  cult,  lays  out 
the  geographical  plan  of  the  reorganized  king- 
dom, and  divides  it  among  the  tribes  that  have 
come  back  from  the  four  corners  of  exile.  This 
plan  of  the  constitution  of  the  future,  full  of 
material  impossibilities,  is  half  ideal,  half  alle- 
gorical. One  part,  that  concerning  the  priest- 
hood and  the  cult,  has  become  reality ;  the  other 
is  still  a  shadow.  The  whole  is  summed  up  in 
the  final  word  of  Ezekiel:  "And  the  name  of 
the  city  shall  henceforth  be,  Here  is  Jehovah." 

vn. 

The  seventy  years  demanded  by  Jeremiah 
were  not  required  to  make  the  new  nation. 
Two  generations  had  scarcely  passed  away  when 
Babylon  fell  in  turn,  and  Cyrus  reopened  to  the 
exiles  the  road  to  Palestine.  The  work  of  edu- 
cation of  the  prophets  was  accomplished  (536 
B.  c.). 

1  Recently  restored  by  Messrs.  Perrot  and  Chipiez. 


96  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

The  prophetic  cry  that  for  two  centuries  ac- 
companies all  the  great  events  of  history,  com- 
ments on  and  explains  them  in  the  name  of 
Jehovah,  was  uttered  by  a  great  poet,  whose 
name  has  remained  unknown,  and  who  is  of  all 
the  one,  perhaps,  whose  voice  has  reached  the 
farthest,  for  his  imagery  and  his  metaphors 
created  a  new  god.  By  general  accord,  he  is 
known  as  the  second  Isaiah,  because  the  com- 
pilers of  the  Bible  have  put  his  work  after 
that  of  Isaiah,  who  lived  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  before  him,  but  whose  pupil  and  successor 
he  evidently  is. 

The  acclamations  with  which  he  salutes  Cy- 
rus do  not  at  all  recall  those  with  which  Jere- 
miah saluted  Nebuchadnezzar.  The  Chaldean 
came  in  order  to  accomplish  the  necessary  de- 
struction, the  Persian  comes  for  deliverance  and 
restoration.  Nebuchadnezzar  was  the  instru- 
ment of  the  vengeance  of  Jehovah,  Cyrus  that 
of  his  mercy.  In  the  interval  between  the  two, 
the  transplanted  remnant  of  Israel  had  grown 
into  the  way  of  the  Lord;  the  dispersion  had 
purified  the  sin  of  Jacob.1 

When  the  news  spreads  that  Cyrus  was 
marching  against  Babylon,  a  cry  of  joy  and 
triumph  arose  in  the  heart  of  the  prophets. 
The  restoration,  so  long  foretold,  is  about  to  be 
accomplished  ;  the  last  act  of  the  prophetic 

*  Isaiah  xxvii. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  97 

drama  begins ;  the  divine  plan  shall  be  carried 
out.  Everything  bends  before  a  liberator  sent 
by  a  God  whom  he  does  not  know.  God  de- 
sires to  repeople  Judah  and  to  rebuild  Jerusa- 
lem ;  therefore  he  takes  Cyrus  by  the  hand,  goes 
before  him,  makes  the  crooked  places  straight, 
breaks  in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass,  cuts  asunder 
the  bars  of  iron,  delivers  to  him  the  hidden 
treasures.1  The  god  Bel  falls;  Nebo  is  over- 
turned, and  all  the  golden  idols  are  saddled  upon 
the  beasts  of  burden,  whom  they  weary  with 
their  weight.2  The  Eternal  has  broken  the  staff 
of  the  wicked,  the  rod  of  the  oppressor;  the 
whole  earth  breaks  forth  into  a  cry  of  joy ;  even 
the  cypress  trees  rejoice,  and  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon  that  he  hewed  down  for  his  palaces  : 
"  Since  thou  art  laid  down,  the  axe  shall  no 
longer  come  up  against  us."  And  in  Sheol  all 
the  spectres  of  the  tyrants  of  old,  whom  he  cast 
down,  rise  up  to  receive  the  new-comer  and  ex- 
claim :  "  See,  thou  art  also  become  wounded  as 
we,  thou  art  become  like  unto  us !  Thy  pomp 
has  come  down  to  Sheol,  and  the  voice  of  thy 
lyres !  And  those  that  see  thee  now,  say :  What ! 
Is  this  he  who  caused  the  earth  to  tremble,  and 
empires  to  shake  ?  "  3 

How  could  Israel  lose  heart  and  say:  "My 
fate  is  indifferent  to  Jehovah,  God  has  forgot- 

1  Isaiah  xlv.  1  sq.  2  Isaiah  xlvi.  1  sq. 

8  Isaiah  xiv.  4  sq. ;  an  imitation  of  Ezekiel  -mii. 


98  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

ten  me  "  ?  "  Could  a  woman  forget  her  suckling 
child,  a  mother  the  fruit  of  her  womb?  They 
may  forget,  but  I,  Jehovah,  will  not  forget 
thee.1  Dost  thou  not  therefore  know,  Israel? 
Dost  thou  not  then  understand  that  Jehovah  is 
always  God  ?  That  he  has  raised  up  from  the 
Orient  one  upon  whose  heels  follows  victory?2 
And  thou,  Israel,  my  servant,  thou  whom  I 
have  chosen,  seed  of  Abraham,  my  friend,  thou 
whom  I  have  taken  from  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
whom  I  have  called  from  the  day  that  thou 
wert  still  in  leading-strings,  fear  nothing,  for  I 
am  with  thee,  I  am  thy  god.3  Those  that  wish 
thee  harm  shall  be  confounded.  Fear  nothing, 
thou  worm  Jacob,  poor  little  people  of  Israel."4 
For  the  sufferings  of  Israel,  transformed  by 
triumphant  prophecy,  are  no  longer,  as  at  the 
time  of  Jeremiah  and  of  militant  prophecy,  the 
expiation  of  her  faults,  the  ignominious  punish- 
ment for  her  sins;  they  are  the  price  of  salva- 
tion of  the  human  soul.  Jehovah  had  placed 
his  spirit  in  Israel,  through  her  to  acquaint 
the  nations  with  justice.  It  is  therefore  not 
in  vain  that  Israel  suffered,  that  she  was  de- 
spised and  rejected  of  men,  a  people  of  sorrows, 
acquainted  with  suffering.  Sent  by  the  Lord 
to  preach  his  word,  she  was  not  rebellious,  and 
recoiled  not  from  the  stain  of  sorrow.  She  gave 

1  Isaiah  xlix.  14.  2  Cyrus. 

8  Isaiah  xli.  1  sq.  *  Isaiah  xli.  14. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  99 

her  back  to  those  that  struck  her,  her  cheek  to 
those  that  insulted  her,  and  hid  not  her  face 
although  reviled  and  spat  upon.1  As  the  lamb 
that  is  led  to  the  slaughter,  as  the  sheep  is 
dumb  before  the  shearer,  she  opened  not  her 
mouth,  and  therefore  she  shall  not  die.  Men 
believed  her  stricken  of  God,  whereas  it  is  to 
reclaim  them  from  their  sins  that  she  was  af- 
flicted, it  was  for  their  salvation  that  she  was 
chastised.2  And  she  neither  grows  weary  nor 
discouraged  that  justice  may  be  established  upon 
the  earth;  and  the  far-off  islands  await  her  in- 
struction. Jehovah  makes  Israel  the  legislator 
of  nations ;  the  nations  that  know  her  not  shall 
hasten  to  her.  She  shall  lead  the  stranger  to 
her  holy  mountain;  for  the  house  of  Jehovah 
shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  peo- 
ple.3 

And  the  poet  sees  the  dawning  of  a  new  world 
where  all  the  past  shall  be  forgotten,  where 
cries  of  distress  shall  be  no  longer  heard,  and 
where  man  shall  sin  no  more;  where  mothers 
will  no  longer  in  bearing  children  suffer  a  sud- 
den death,  where  men  shall  not  be  cut  off  in 
the  prime  of  life,  where  the  youngest  shall  die 
at  the  age  of  a  hundred,  and  where  the  sinner 
shall  not  be  cursed  for  longer  than  a  hundred 
years. 

1  Isaiah  1.  5,  6.  2  Isaiah  liii.  2  sq. 

3  Isaiah  Iv.  4,  5;  Ivi  8. 


100  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

VIII. 

Stirred  up  by  these  great  hopes,  which,  six 
centuries  later,  were  thought  to  be  realized 
under  new  forms  and  symbols  traced  back  to 
the  metaphors  of  the  prophet,  a  portion  of  the 
exiles  again  took  up  the  staff  of  pilgrimage, 
took  down  the  lyres  that  hung  on  the  willows 
of  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  crossed  the  wilder- 
ness, and  ascended  the  mountain  of  Zion,  sing- 
ing:— 

"  When  the  Eternal  brought  back  the  captives  of  Ziou, 

we  were  as  in  a  dream. 
.  .  .  Then  our  lips  filled  with  mirth,  our  mouth  with 

shouts  of  triumph  ! " l 

And  then  Israel  attempted  to  convert  the 
prophetic  dream  into  reality,  and  to  organize, 
in  place  of  the  former  prosaic  country,  a  coun- 
try at  once  terrestrial  and  divine,  material  and 
ideal.  Eeality  soon  brought  a  terrible  awaken- 
ing, silencing  all  shouts  of  triumph. 

A  day  came  when,  in  the  presence  of  actual 
disappointments,  the  nation  was  divided,  and  a 
party  arose,  saying,  "The  kingdom  foretold  is 
not  of  this  world."  The  prophet's  conception 
became  an  image  and  an  allegory,  and  Chris- 
tianity, accepting  a  dogma  borrowed  from  Greek 
philosophy,  one  which  prophetic  Judaism  had 

1  Psalm  cxxvi.  1,  2. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  101 

always  ignored,  —  the  belief  in  the  resurrection 
and  in  future  rewards  and  punishments,  —  set 
aside  the  problem  that  was  troubling  the  con- 
science of  Israel,  by  transferring  its  solution  to 
another  world. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  how  and  why 
the  time  came  when  one  portion  of  humanity 
ceased  to  be  content  with  the  Christian  solu- 
tion. The  new  birth  of  science  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  destructive  philosophy  of  the  eigh- 
teenth, and  the  Revolution,  brought  back  the 
question  to  the  same  position  in  which  it  had 
been  placed  by  the  ancient  prophets,  —  the  real- 
ization of  justice  on  earth  without  the  support 
of  a  reward  beyond  the  tomb.  In  consequence, 
humanity  finds  itself,  after  twenty-seven  centu- 
ries, facing  the  same  problem  that  presented  it- 
self at  the  time  of  the  shepherd  Amos  and  King 
Jeroboam  II.  f  For  this  reason,  these  old  pages 
still  appeal  so  strongly  to  minds  that  have  thrown 
off  belief  in  gods  and  the  other  world,  with  all 
the  other  beliefs  in  which  they  had  been  cradled 
for  eighteen  centuries.  "All  of  us,"  says  the 
great  historian  of  our  moral  crises,  "all  of  us 
who  seek  a  god  without  priests,  a  revelation 
without  prophets,  a  covenant  inscribed  on  the 
heart,  are  in  many  respects  the  disciples  of 
these  old  deluded  thinkers."  Nay,  not  deluded, 
for  they  sought  God  in  their  hearts  and  found 
him.  Their  Jehovah  was,  after  all,  only  the 


102  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

dominant  conscience  of  certain  men  deified,  the 
human  conscience  projected  heavenward;  and 
to-day,  in  the  religious  ruin  of  the  century, 
that  conscience  is  always  present,  always  ready, 
with  its  gloom,  its  uncertainties,  its  good  inten- 
tions, to  respond  to  the  cry  of  strong  minds. 
The  prophets  were  the  first  to  utter  this  cry, 
and  they  did  so  for  all  time.  They  uttered  in 
words  of  inextinguishable  ardor  the  cry  of  a 
noble  instinct,  in  a  form  so  simple,  so  universal, 
so  free  from  the  fleeting  fancies  of  religious 
poetry,  so  purely  and  triumphantly  humane, 
that,  after  twenty-seven  centuries,  disciples  of 
Voltaire  upon  hearing  it  wonder  to  find  their 
own  conscience  bow  before  it.  The  historical 
power  of  the  prophets  is  exhausted  neither  by 
Judaism  nor  by  Christianity,  and  they  hold  a 
reserve  force  for  the  benefit  of  the  coming  cen- 
tury. The  twentieth  century  is  better  prepared 
than  the  nineteen  preceding  it,  to  understand 
them,  and  they  can  still  say  to-day  as  of  old: 
"The  word  issuing  from  my  lips  will  not  return 
to  me  without  effect." 

It  is  true  that  the  horizon  of  modern  hu- 
manity is  not  that  of  the  seers  of  Ephraim. 
Humanity  now  has  an  additional  torment  which 
troubled  them  but  little,  the  scientific  torment, 
which  no  moral  revelation  can  heal,  and  which 
the  prophets  do  not  speak.  It  springs  not  from 
the  heart  of  man,  the  source  of  all  certainty, 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  103 

but  from  his  lack  of  heart;  it  comes  down 
upon  him  from  the  stars,  it  ascends  to  him  from 
the  depth  of  the  ages.  It  is  for  science,  with 
its  slow  and  progressive  revelations,  with  its 
beautiful  waking  dreams,  to  pour,  drop  by 
drop,  its  balm  upon  a  wound  that  will  always 
bleed.  Still,  the  lights  of  science  are  cold,  like 
those  of  a  polar  sun,  and  for  souls  instinctively 
bad,  its  balm  is  a  narcotic  or  a  poison.  It  will 
not  be  wholesome  or  vivifying  unless  it  find 
again  in  the  moral  instinct  the  sap  and  warmth 
of  life,  and  unless  it  is  employed  in  realizing 
God  in  man. 

Nineteen  centuries  have  passed  since  the  no- 
blest spirit  of  Rome,  in  the  presence  of  the  vile- 
ness  of  the  gods  and  of  the  priests,  uttered  a 
cry  of  outraged  intelligence:  "Nor  does  piety 
consist  in  showing  one's  self  constantly,  with 
veiled  face,  before  a  stone,  and  approaching 
all  the  altars,  nor  in  prostrating  one's  self  on 
the  ground,  and  stretching  out  open  hands  to- 
wards the  sanctuaries,  nor  in  sprinkling  the 
altars  with  the  blood  of  beasts,  but  in  contem- 
plating the  universe  with  a  calm  mind." 

"  Nee  pietas  ulla  est  velatiim  saepe  videri 

Vortier  ad  lapidem,  atque  omneis  accedere  ad  aras 
Nee  procumbere  humi  prostratum,  et  pandere  palmas 
Ante  deum  delubra,  neque  aras  sanguine  multo 


104  THE  PEOPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Spargere  quadrupedum,  nee  votis  nectere  vota  : 
Sed  mage  pacata  posse  omnia  mente  tueri."  l 

And  eight  centuries  before  Lucretius,  the 
god  of  the  shepherd  Amos  exclaims:  "I  hate 
your  feast  days,  your  holocausts  I  despise; 
from  your  offerings  of  fat  beasts  I  turn  away 
my  eyes.  Away  from  me  with  the  noise  of  your 
songs,  that  I  may  not  hear  the  sound  of  your 
lyres!  But  let  righteousness  gush  forth  as> 
water,  and  justice  as  a  never-failing  stream." 

The  religion  of  the  twentieth  century  is  to  be 
found  in  these  two  cries :  it  will  arise  out  of  the 
fusion  of  prophecy  with  science. 

1  Lucretius,  De  Eerum  Natura,  book  v.  11. 1197-1202.  —  E0. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

ON  the  night  of  the  7th  of  April,  1886 
(Wednesday,  eleven  P.  M.),  as  I  was  sitting  in 
the  garden  of  my  bungalow  at  Peshawer,  gaz- 
ing at  the  stars  and  the  silver  moon,  I  heard 
my  Afghan  chaukidar,1  old  Piro,  of  the  Khalil 
tribe,  muttering  in  a  broken  voice,  fragments  of 
a  song  that  sounded  like  a  love-song.  I  asked 
him  to  repeat  the  song  to  me ;  this  he  modestly 
declined  to  do  for  a  long  time,  but  at  last  he 
gave  way,  and  began :  — 

"  My  love  is  gone  to  Dekhan,  and  has  left  me  alone  : 

I  have  gone  to  him  to  entreat  him. 

'  What  is  it  to  me  that  tkou  shouldst  become  a  Raja  at 

Azrabad  ? ' 2 
I  seized  him  by  the  skirt  of  his  garment  and  said  :  '  Look 

at  me  ! '  " 

Here  old  Piro  stopped,  and  neither  for  love  nor 
for  money  could  I  prevail  upon  him  to  go  on; 
his  repertoire  was  exhausted.  But  my  interest 
had  been  awakened,  and  from  that  night  I  re- 
solved to  collect  what  I  could  of  the  Afghan 

1  As  life  and  property  are  not  very  safe  at  Peshawer,  it  is 
usual  to  keep  an  armed  watchman,  called  chaukidar. 

2  Hyderabad,  a  favorite  place   of  resort  for  Afghan  ad- 
venturers and  soldats  de  fortune. 


106      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

popular  poetry;  the  field  was  new  and  unex- 
plored :  English  people  in  India  care  little  for 
Indian  songs. 

I  had  gone  to  the  border  to  study  the  Afghan 
language  and  literature,  but  I  had  soon  to  rec- 
ognize that  the  so-called  Afghan  literature  is 
hardly  worth  the  trouble  of  a  journey  from 
Paris  to  Peshawer.  It  consists  mainly  of  imi- 
tations and  translations  from  the  Persian,  Ara- 
bic, and  Hindustani.  For  a  time,  under  the 
Moguls,  an  original  and  free  spirit  permeated 
those  imitations,  and  Mirza  Ansari,  the  mys- 
tical poet,  or  Khushhal  Khan,  prince  of  the 
Khatak  tribe,  would  be  accounted  a  true  poet 
in  any  nation  and  any  literature.  But  these 
are  rare  exceptions,  and  the  theological  lucubra- 
tions of  the  much-revered  Akhun  Darveza,  that 
narrow,  foul-mouthed,  rancorous,  and  truly 
pious  exponent  of  Afghan  orthodoxy,  the  end- 
less rifacimenti  of  Hatim  Tai,  the  most  liberal 
of  Arabs,  of  Ali  Hamza  and  the  companions  of 
the  Prophet,  or  the  ever-retold  edif}ring  story 
of  Joseph  and  Zuleikha,  all  seem  as  if  they  had 
been  written  or  copied  by  mediaeval  monks  or 
unimaginative  children. 

The  popular,  unwritten  poetry,  though  de- 
spised and  ignored  by  the  reading  classes,  is  of 
quite  a  different  character.  It  is  the  work  of 
illiterate  poets ;  but  it  represents  their  feelings ; 
it  has  life  in  it,  —  the  life  of  the  people ;  it  is 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     107 

simple,  because  the  natural  range  of  ideas  of 
an  Afghan  is  simple  and  limited;  it  is  true  to 
nature,  because  it  represents  those  ideas  with- 
out any  moral  bias  or  literary  afterthought. 
Sometimes,  therefore,  it  is  powerful  and  beau- 
tiful, because  it  renders  simply  and  truly  power- 
ful passions  or  beautiful  feelings. 

During  a  few  months'  stay  on  the  border  I 
collected  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  songs 1 
of  every  description,  —  love-songs,  folk-lore, 
hymns,  romantic  songs,  and  political  ballads. 
If  we  want  to  know  what  an  Afghan  is,  let  us 
put  all  books  aside  and  receive  his  own  uncon- 
scious confession  from  the  lips  of  his  favorite 
poets.  The  confession,  I  am  afraid,  would  not 
be  much  to  their  honor  on  the  whole,  but  it  will 
be  the  more  sincere.  This  is  the  value  of  the 
wild,  unpremeditated  accents  of  these  people: 
a  poor  thing  it  is,  but  it  expresses  their  nature. 


THE   AFGHANS   AND   THE   DUMS. 

The  Afghans2  are  divided  into  three  inde- 
pendent groups :  — 

1  To  be  published,  with  text,  translation,  and  commentary, 
in  the  Bibliotkeque    Orientale  of  the  French  Asiatic  Society. 
[Since   published   by  the  Soci^te"  Asiatique    under  the    title 
"  Chants  populaires  des  Afghans  "  (1890).  —  ED.] 

2  Afghan  is  their  Persian  name :  their  Indian  name  is  Pa- 
than ;  their  national  name,  Pukhtun  or  Pushtun. 


108     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

1.  The  Afghans  under  British  rule,  or  what 
we  may  call  the  Queen's  Afghans,  who  inhabit 
the  border  districts  along  the  Indus,  Dera  Is- 
mail Khan,  Bannu,  Kohat,  Peshawer,  and  Ha- 
zara.     They  were  conquered  in  1849,  with  the 
Sikhs,  their  then  masters. 

2.  The  Afghans  of  Afghanistan  proper,  or 
the  Emir's  Afghans;  the  only  part  of  the  race 
that  forms  something  like  an  organized  power. 

3.  The  Afghans  of  Yaghistan,  "the  rebel  or 
independent   country;"  that   is   to   say,    those 
Afghans  who  do  not  belong  either  to  the  Brit- 
ish Raj  or  to  the  Emir,  but  live  in  the  native 
national  anarchy  in  the  western  basin  of  the 
upper  Indus,  —  Svat,  Buner,  Panjkora,  Dher, 
etc.     The   Afghan   of   Yaghistan  is  the   true, 
unsophisticated  Afghan. 

Our  songs  were  collected  in  the  British  dis- 
tricts of  Peshawer  and  Hazara,  but  most  of 
them  express,  nevertheless,  the  general  views  of 
the  Afghans  to  whatever  part  they  belong ;  for 
though  there  is  no  real  nationality  amongst  the 
Afghans,  yet  there  is  a  strongly  marked  national 
character,  and,  though  nothing  is  more  offensive 
to  an  Afghan  than  another  Afghan,  still  there 
is  nothing  so  much  like  an  Afghan  as  another. 
Moreover,  many  of  these  songs  come  from  Ya- 
ghistan, or  Afghanistan.  Songs  travel  quickly ; 
the  thousands  of  Powindas  that  every  year 
pass  twice  across  the  Suleiman  range,  bringing 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      109 

the  wealth  of  Central  Asia  and  carrying  back 
the  wealth  of  India,  bring  also  and  carry  back 
all  the  treasures  of  the  Afghan  Muse  on  both 
sides  the  mountain;  and  a  new  song  freshly 
flown  at  Naushehra,  from  the  lips  of  Mohammed 
the  Oil-presser,  will  very  soon  be  heard  upon 
the  mountains  of  Buner,  or  down  the  valley  of 
the  Helmend. 

There  are  two  sorts  of  poets,  —  the  Sha-ir  and 
the  Dum.  With  the  Sha-ir  we  have  nothing 
to  do;  he  is  the  literary  poet,  who  can  read, 
who  knows  Hafiz  and  Saadi,  who  writes  Afghan 
Ghazals  on  the  Persian  model,  who  has  com- 
posed a  Divan.  Every  educated  man  is  a 
Sha-ir,  though,  if  he  be  a  man  of  good  taste, 
he  will  not  assume  the  title;  writing  Ghazal 
was  one  of  the  accomplishments  of  the  old 
Afghan  chiefs.  Hafiz  Rahmat,  the  great  Ro- 
hilla  captain,  Ahmed  Shah,  the  founder  of  the 
Durani  empire,  had  written  Divans,  were  "Di- 
van people,"  —  Ahli  Divan,  as  the  expression 
runs.  The  Sha-ir  may  be  a  clever  writer,  he 
may  be  a  fine  writer;  but  he  has  nothing  to 
teach  us  about  his  people.  We  may  safely  dis- 
miss him  with  honor  and  due  respect. 

The  Dum  is  the  popular  singer  and  poet,  for 
he  combines  the  two  qualities,  like  our  Jongleur 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  Dums  form  a  caste; 
the  profession  is  hereditary.  The  Dum  is  de- 
spised by  the  people  with  literary  pretensions, 


110      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

who  fly  into  a  passion  when  one  of  these  igno- 
rant fellows,  flushed  with  success,  dubs  himself 
a  /Sha-ir.  He  is  not  a  Pathan  by  race,  though 
he  has  been  pathanized ;  he  is  a  low  sort  of 
creature,  whom  the  Khans  and  Sardars  treat  as 
the  mediaeval  barons  might  have  treated  the 
itinerant  Jongleur,  —  despised,  insulted,  hon- 
ored, liberally  paid,  intensely  popular  amongst 
the  people. 

The  novice  Dum  goes  to  a  celebrated  Dum 
who  is  a  master,  an  Ustad ;  he  becomes  his 
disciple,  his  shagird.  The  master  teaches  him 
first  his  own  songs,  then  the  songs  of  the  great 
Dums  of  the  present  and  past  generations. 
The  Ustad  takes  his  shagirds  with  him  to  the 
festivities  to  which  he  has  been  asked,  private 
or  public,  profane  or  religious:  he  takes  them 
to  the  hujra,  the  "common  house"  or  town-hall 
of  the  village,  where  idlers  and  traveling  guests 
meet  every  night  to  hear  the  news  that  is  going 
round,  and  listen  to  any  man  that  has  a  tale  to 
tell  or  a  song  to  sing.  The  Ustad  pockets  half 
the  sum  given  by  the  host,  and  the  other  half 
is  divided  between  the%shagirds.  When  a  sha- 
gird feels  he  can  compose  for  himself  and  is  able 
to  achieve  a  reputation,  he  leaves  his  master 
and  becomes  himself  an  Ustad.  I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  Dums  generally  are  not  over-sensitive 
about  literary  honesty :  plagiarism  is  rife  among 
them.  A  Dum  will  readily  sing,  as  his  own, 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      Ill 

songs  of  the  dead  or  the  living.  It  is  the  cus- 
tom that  poets  should  insert  their  names  in  the 
last  line;  you  have  only  to  substitute  your  own 
name  for  the  name  of  the  real  author  or  of  the 
former  plagiarist :  people  will  not  applaud  you 
the  less,  though  of  course  the  injured  party 
may  retort  with  a  satire  or  a  stab.  A  good 
Dum  may  die  a  rich  man :  Mira  would  hardly 
open  his  mouth  anywhere  under  fifty  rupees. 
He  was  an  illiterate  man;  he  could  not  read, 
but  he  knew  by  heart  a  wonderful  number  of 
songs,  and  could  improvise.  You  would  ask 
him  for  a  song  in  a  certain  shade  of  feeling; 
then  he  would  go  out  with  his  men,  and  an  hour 
afterwards  they  would  come  back  and  sing  a 
beautiful  chorus  on  the  rebab.  His  song  of 
"Zakhme  "  is  sung  wherever  there  are  Afghans, 
as  far  as  Rampor  in  Rohilkhand,  and  Haydera- 
bad  of  Dekhan,  and  sets  them  a-dancing  as 
soon  as  the  first  notes  are  struck.  It  was  sung 
at  the  Ravul  Pindi  interview  as  the  national 
song  of  the  Afghans,  though  it  is  nothing  more 
—  or,  rather,  nothing  less  —  than  a  love-song. 
An  Irish  journalist  —  Mr.  Grattan  Geary,  of 
the  "Bombay  Gazette"  —  was  struck  with  its 
melody,  and  had  it  printed.  It  is,  I  believe, 
the  only  Afghan  song  that  has  ever  been  pub- 
lished.1 

1  Two  songs  have  been  translated  by  Mr.  Thorburn  in  his 
book  on  Bannu,  and  another  by  Colonel  Raverty  in  the  Intro- 
duction to  his  Afghan  Grammar. 


112     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN'  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

The  people  piously  inclined  object  to  song, 
among  the  Afghans  as  well  as  elsewhere;  and 
the  Mollahs  inveigh  against  the  Dums.  There 
is  only  one  occasion  when  even  a  Mollah  will 
approve  of  the  song  of  a  Dum ;  it  is  when 
the  Crusade,  or,  as  the  Anglo-Indians  say,  the 
Crescentade,  has  been  proclaimed;  then  is  the 
time  for  the  Dum  to  rehabilitate  himself,  as  he 
sings  the  glories  of  the  Sacred  War,  the  bliss 
reserved  to  the  Ghazi,  the  roses  .that  grow  for 
him  in  the  groves  above,  and  the  black-eyed 
houris  that  come  from  heaven  and  give  the  dy- 
ing man  to  drink  of  the  sherbet  of  martyrdom. 
But  in  spite  of  the  Mollahs,  the  Dum  is  as 
popular  in  his  profane  as  in  his  semi-sacred 
character.  Song  is  a  passion  with  the  Afghans ; 
in  fact,  one  of  the  few  noble  passions  with 
which  he  is  endowed.  Whenever  three  Af- 
ghans meet  together,  there  is  a  song  between 
them.  In  the  hujra,  during  the  evening  con- 
versation, a  man  rises  up,  seizes  a  rebab,  and 
sings,  sings  on.  Perhaps  he  is  under  prosecu- 
tion for  a  capital  crime;  perhaps  to-morrow  he 
will  be  hunted  to  the  mountain,  sent  to  the  gal- 
lows ;  what  matters  ?  Every  event  of  public  or 
private  life  enters  song  at  once,  and  the  Dums 
are  the  journalists  of  the  Afghans.  I  fancy 
the  Dum  of  to-day  has  preserved  for  us  faith- 
fully enough  a  picture  of  what  the  Bard  was 
with  the  Gauls. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      113 

H. 
AFGHAN  HONOR. 

The  supreme  law  for  an  Afghan  is  honor; 
they  have  the  idea,  and  have  a  word  for  it,  — 
Nangi  Pukhtana,  or  Afghan  honor.  But  the 
word  does  not  convey  with  them  the  same  ideas 
as  with  us,  and  needs  explanation.  The  Nangi 
Pukhtana  includes  a  number  of  laws,  of  which 
the  chief  are  Nanavatai,  Badal,  and  Mail- 
mastai ;  that  is  to  say,  Law  of  Asylum,  Law 
of  Revenge,  and  Law  of  Hospitality. 

"By  JVanavatai,  or  'the  entering  in,'  the 
Pukhtun  is  expected,  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own 
life  and  property  if  necessary,  to  shelter  and 
protect  any  one  who  in  extremity  may  flee  to 
his  threshold,  and  seek  an  asylum  under  his 
roof." 1  As  soon  as  you  have  crossed  the  thresh- 
old of  an  Afghan  you  are  sacred  to  him,  though 
you  were  his  deadly  foe,  and  he  will  give  up 
his  own  life  to  save  yours ;  as  soon  as  you  are 
out  he  resumes  his  natural  right  to  take  your 
life  by  every  means  in  his  power,  fair  or  foul. 

You  know  of  the  dramatic  tale  by  Prosper 
Merimee,  of  the  Corsican  father  shooting  his 
own  child  because  he  has  shown  to  the  gen- 
darmes the  room  where  an  outlaw  had  hidden 
himself.  The  Afghans  have  the  same  tale,  but 

1  H.  W.  Bellew,  Yusufzais,  p.  212. 


114     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

a  degree  higher  in  dramatic  horror,  because 
here  it  is  the  son  that  does  justice  upon  his 
father.  It  is  the  tale  of  "Adam  Khan  and 
Durkhani,"  a  tale  that  has  been  popular  for 
more  than  a  century,  has  inspired,  and  still 
inspires,  many  poets;  it  is  in  fact  one  of  the 
subjects  that  every  poet  must  treat.  There  are 
of  course  an  infinite  number  of  versions ;  I  give 
here  the  one  that  was  sung  to  me,  in  September 
last  year,  at  Abbottabad,  by  the  poet  Burhan, 
son  of  the  poet  Nadir. 

Durkhani  was  in  love  with  Adam  Khan,  and 
they  had  pledged  their  faith  to  one  another; 
but  Durkhani 's  father  had  promised  her  hand 
to  the  hated  Payavai.  The  lovers  determined 
to  flee  together :  — 

"They  left  by  night,  and  stopped  in  the  house  of  Pir- 
mainai.  Of  many  villages,  Pirmamai  was  the  lord. 

"  Pirmamai's  son,  Gujarkhan,  was  the  friend  of  Adam 
Khan  :  they  had  in  days  before  exchanged  turbans  to- 
gether. 

"  Gujarkhan's  renown  of  prowess  extended  far  and 
wide  ;  there  was  no  man  in  Mandan  who  was  a  match  for 
him. 

"  Durkhani  said  :  '  Uncle  Pirmamai,  take  us  under 
your  guard  ;  if  Payavai  carries  me  away,  my  life  is 
ruined.' 

"  Pirmamai  :  '  Fear  not,  Durkhani  !  I  shall  not  deliver 
thee  without  struggle  unto  the  hands  of  Payavai. 

" '  I  have  a  hundred  horsemen,  covered  with  cuirass,  all 
men  of  war;  I  have  twelve  hundred  men,  with  their  guns 
ready. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      115 

" '  They  will  all  of  them  give  up  their  lives  under  thy 
eyes ;  he  shall  not  carry  thee  from  me  —  what  dost  thou 
fear?' 

"  Durkhani  said  to  Pirmamai :  '  Thou  art  the  master  ; 
I  have  entered  into  thy  courtyard  ;  thou  art  my  father.' 

"  Pirmamai  said  :  '  Durkhani,  be  not  afraid.  Between 
thee  and  me  here  is  the  Lord  as  witness.' 

"  Pirmamai  took  a  solemn  oath,  and  Adam  Khan  and 
Durkhani  trusted  him." 


Payavai  pursues  them,  and  sends  before  him 
a  messenger  to  Pirmamai.  The  messenger  takes 
his  seat  tranquilly  near  Pirmamai  and  says: 
"I  am  come  from  Payavai.  He  says  to  you: 
'  Give  me  up  Durkhani :  here  are  six  hundred 
rupees. ' ' '  Pirmamai  tried  the  rupees,  and  treas- 
ured them  in  his  house,  and  was  one  in  heart 
with  Payavai. 

Adam  Khan  had  gone  to  a  hunting  party; 
Pirmamai  sends  Gujarkhan  to  Mahaban;  Pa- 
yavai arrives;  Pirmamai  enters  the  room  of 
Durkhani  and  says:  "Durkhani,  quick,  get 
up ;  the  enemy  is  come ;  all  my  men  have  been 
hanged."  "For  pity's  sake,"  cries  Durkhani, 
"give  me  not  up.  The  Pukhtuns  keep  their 
word;  they  are  under  the  law  of  honor." 
"You  speak  in  vain,"  shouts  Pirmamai;  "Pa- 
yavai is  too  useful  to  me."  She  cries,  she 
struggles,  she  curses  him.  "The  man  without 
honor  will  be  despised:  that  word  will  be  re- 
membered to  the  day  of  Resurrection." 


116     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

"  Gujarkhan  was  coming  home  from  his  journey  :  the 
skirts  of  his  turban  were  floating  from  his  shoulders. 

"  A  man  told  him  :  '  Gujarkhan,  thy  father,  has  given 
up  Durkhani  to  Payavai :  Payavai  has  carried  her  a 
prisoner.' 

"  Gujarkhan  cried  out :  '  Where  is  my  father  ?  Tell 
me  :  fire  goes  out  of  my  body.' 

"  Pirmamai  stood  under  the  shelter  of  a  wall  ;  he  him- 
self heard  these  words. 

"Quickly  he  sprang  upon  his  horse  and  fled  away; 
sweat  ran  down  from  his  forehead  out  of  fear. 

"  Gujarkhan  galloped  upon  a  white  horse  ;  he  let  him 
loose  behind  Pirmamai  ;  he  let  the  two  reins  lie  on  the 
neck  of  the  horse. 

"  He  ran  ten  miles.  O  my  friends  !  the  spittle  grew 
dry  in  the  mouth  of  Pirmamai. 

"  Gujarkham  reached  him  with  the  end  of  his  lance, 
and  Pirrnamai's  ribs  were  pierced  through  from  side  to 
side. 

"  Pirmamai  rolled  down  from  his  horse  to  earth  :  Pir- 
mamai cried,  and  entreated  Gujarkhan. 

"  Pirmamai  said  :  "  O  Gujarkhan  !  I  am  thy  father  : 
the  deed  that  I  wrought  was  done  out  of  sheer  madness.' 

"  Gujarkhan  said  :  '  I  swear  it,  I  will  not  spare  thee  ; 
thou  hast  covered  with  shame  generations  of  Pathans.' 

"He  drew  out  his  Iranian  sword,  and  hewed  him 
down  :  Pirmamai's  bones  were  ground  into  powder. 

"  Gujarkhan  galloped  back  on  his  white  horse,  and  dis- 
appeared :  Pirmamai's  flesh  was  devoured  by  jackals." 

What  are  the  feelings  of  an  Afghan  listening 
to  the  tale  of  horror?  The  poet  himself,  like 
the  chorus  of  antique  tragedy,  gives  expression 
to  the  verdict  of  public  conscience  in  one  word, 
without  appeal.  Burhan  says:  "Gujarkhan  has 
done  a  Pathan's  deed." 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      117 

Badal,1  or  revenge,  is  the  soul  of  Afghan 
life.  All  the  history  of  Afghanistan,  both  pub- 
lic and  private,  is  one  continued  tale  of  vendetta. 
However,  it  chances  that  I  have  not  in  my  col- 
lection any  song  of  vendetta  illustrating  this 
side  of  Afghan  life  in  a  manner  sufficiently 
characteristic  to  deserve  quotation.  Suffice  it 
to  say,  that  vendetta  is  with  the  Afghans  what 
it  is  with  the  Corsicans,  the  Albanians,  all 
primitive  mountaineers:  it  is  hereditary  and 
not  to  be  prescribed. 

Even  on  British  territory  the  law  is  power- 
less against  the  Badal ;  it  is  one  of  the  crimes 
for  which  no  witness  will  be  found  to  speak 
before  the  judge  in  Kachehri.  There  is  hardly 
an  Afghan  in  the  mountain  who  has  not  a  foe 
who  aims  at  his  head,  and  at  whose  head  he 
aims.  It  happens  not  seldom  that  an  Afghan 
Sepoy  from  Yaghistan  —  many  Afghans  from 
over  the  border  enlist  in  the  native  contingent 
—  asks  for  leave  for  private  business ;  that 
means  that  there  is  up  there  some  wolf's  head 
which  he  has  to  take.  There  is  a  story  of  an 
Afghan  Sepoy  who,  not  having  joined  his  pal- 
tan  in  due  time,  complained  bitterly  of  the 
iniquity  of  his  officer,  who  had  dismissed  him 

1  Badal,  or  retaliation,  must  be  exacted  for  every  and  the 
slightest  personal  injury  or  insult,  or  for  damage  to  property. 
Where  the  avenger  takes  the  life  of  his  victim  in  retaliation 
for  the  murder  of  one  of  his  relatives,  it  is  termed  kisas. 
Bellew,  loc.  cit. 


118     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

from  service :  "I  had  a  duty  of  Badal  to  per- 
form ;  I  had  to  kill  a  foe.  The  scamp  absconded 
for  weeks:  what  could  I  do?" 

Mailmastai  is  a  virtue  of  a  less  stern  charac- 
ter; it  is  hospitality  in  the  widest  meaning  of 
the  word.  The  Afghan  is  bound  to  feed  and 
shelter  any  traveler  who  knocks  at  his  door; 
even  infidels  have  a  claim  upon  his  hospitality. 
The  laws  of  mailmastai  are  binding  on  the  com- 
mune as  well  as  on  the  individual ;  the  hujra  is 
the  home  of  those  who  have  no  home.  Even  in 
British  districts  the  chief  of  the  village,  the 
Malik  or  Lambardar,  raises  a  special  revenue 
—  the  malba,  or  hospitality  tax  —  for  the  en- 
tertainment of  passing  travelers.  Whether 
rich  or  poor,  the  duty  is  the  same  for  all.  The 
poor  entertain  poorly,  the  rich  richly.  It  hap- 
pens not  seldom  that  they  run  into  debt,  and 
fall  a  prey  to  the  Hindu  money-lender,  for  fear 
they  should  deserve  the  name  of  a  shum,  a 
miser,  —  the  worst  insult  to  an  Afghan,  espe- 
cially to  an  Afghan  of  high  rank.  Old  Afzal 
Khan,  of  Jamalgarhi,  of  the  royal  family  of 
the  Khataks,  will  be  remembered  for  a  long 
time  amongst  his  people  because  he  is  a  shum, 
and  poet  Mahmud  sang  a  cruel  song  of  him. 
Here  is  his  story;  it  is  the  old  story  of  the  end 
of  a  great  name. 

Afzal  Khan  was  born  in  the  first  years  of 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      119 

this  century;  he  is  descended  in  direct  line 
from  the  prince  of  the  Khataks,  Khushhal 
Khan,  the  great  warrior  and  great  poet,  who 
for  years  in  his  mountains  defied  Aurengzeb 
and  the  Mogul  empire,  and  "who,  as  he  boasts, 
was  the  first  to  raise  his  standard  in  the  field 
of  Afghan  song,  and  subjugated  the  empire  of 
words  under  the  hoof  of  his  battle-steed." 
About  1830  his  cousin,  Khavas  Khan,  received 
the  investiture  of  Akora  at  the  hands  of  Runjet 
Singh,  the  Sikh  suzerain  of  the  now  British 
Afghans:  Afzal  Khan  stabbed  him  with  his 
own  hand  on  his  way  home  from  Lahore.  He 
rendered  service  during  the  Mutiny ;  his  income 
was  3,629  rupees,  822  of  which  were  a  pension 
from  government  for  loyal  service.  Afzal  Khan 
was  a  rich  man ;  he  had  a  great  name ;  he  had 
in  his  house  the  original  manuscripts  of  Khush- 
hal Khan;  he  had  his  enemies'  blood  on  his 
hand;  he  had  everything  necessary  to  deserve 
him  the  esteem  of  his  own  people ;  but  he  was 
a  shum,  and  Mahmud  has  made  his  name  im- 
mortal in  a  satire.  This  satire  is  in  the  form 
of  a  dialogue  between  pupil  and  master,  sha- 
gird  and  ustad :  — 

PUPIL  :  At  Jamalgarhi  lives  Afzal  Khan. 

MASTER  :  Tell  me  about  him.  He  boastfully  praises 
himself  and  his  sons  every  moment. 

PUPIL  :  No  guest  is  welcome  to  him. 

MASTER  :  May  God,  therefore,  bring  distress  upon 
him  ! 


120      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

PUPIL  :  Yes,  ever  invoke  a  curse  upon  a  miser  ! 

MASTER  :  He  is  evil-natured,  evil-tougued,  evil-man- 
nered ;  there  never  was,  never  will  be,  a  miser  such  as 
he. 

PUPIL  :  When  from  a  distance  he  sees  a  guest  coming, 

MASTER  :  He  says  to  him :  '  Wherefore  do  you 
come  ? ' l 

PUPIL  :  He  kills  him  with  questions  from  head  to  foot. 

MASTER  :  He  has  no  fear,  no  respect  of  the  Lord. 

PUPIL  :  He  never  lets  a  guest  rest  on  a  bed  in  the 
hujra. 

MASTER  :  His  mouth  is  always  open  as  an  empty  well. 

PUPIL  :  He  has  no  teeth,  his  mouth  is  black  as  an  oven. 

PUPIL  :  He  who  will  cut  him  into  pieces, 

MASTER  :  Will  be  a  Ghazi,  and  it  is  a  scamp  he  will 
kill. 

MASTER  :  Let  him  vanish  from  my  eyes  ;  he  sets  all 
his  kith  and  kin  a-blushing. 

PUPIL  :  There  will  never  be  such  a  shameless  fellow  as 
Afzal  Khan. 

MAHMUD  says  :  I  wag  my  tongue  upon  him  freely  in 
the  bazaar. 

The  curse  of  the  poet  was  not  lost.  Last 
year  in  May  I  saw  the  poor  old  scamp,  in 
chains,  pleading  for  his  life  before  the  Sessions 
Judge  in  Kachehri.  He  was  charged  with 
traitorous  murder;  his  two  sons  and  two  ser- 
vants were  with  him  in  the  dock.  As  witnesses 
were  speaking,  the  five  accused  men  did  not 
cease  from  muttering  prayers  and  telling  their 

1  A  question  never  to  be  asked  from  a  guest  until  his  needs 
have  been  attended  to. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      121 

beads,  in  order  to  make  the  depositions  harm- 
less and  turn  the  heart  of  the  judge  in  their 
favor.  Afzal  Khan  was  acquitted,  but  one  of 
his  sons  and  one  of  his  servants  were  sentenced 
to  death.  When  I  left,  the  appeal  was  pend- 
ing at  Lahore.  I  am  afraid  by  this  time  the 
grandson  of  Khushhal  Khan  has  been  dangling 
for  a  long  time;  the  English  in  India  have  a 
foible  for  hanging  big  people:  it  sets  a  good 
example. 

I  must  say  that  public  opinion  amongst  the 
natives  underwent  a  revulsion  in  favor  of  Afzal 
Khan.  They  would  have  welcomed  with  pleas- 
ure the  news  that  the  old  shum  had  been  stabbed 
by  any  man  of  his  kith  and  kin;  but  it  was 
hard  to  see  justice  done  upon  him  by  a  Firangi. 
Besides,  the  murdered  man  had  spoken  slight- 
ingly of  Afzal  Khan's  daughter-in-law.1  That 
murder  was  the  only  fine  trait  in  his  life,  the 
redeeming  feature. 

1  "  The  abuse  or  slander  of  a  man's  female  relations  is  only 
to  be  wiped  out  in  the  blood  of  the  slanderer,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  the  slandered  one,  whether  the  calumny  be  deserved 
or  not,  ia  murdered  to  begin  with."  Bellew,  Yusufzais,  p. 
214. 


122     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

III. 
AFGHAN   HONOR. 

What  the  Afghan  honor  is,  we  know;  the 
ballad  of  Muqarrab  Khan  will  teach  us  what  it 
is  not. 

Muqarrab  Khan  is  the  ideal  of  the  Afghan 
politician  in  Yaghistan.  He  was  the  chief  of 
the  Khedu  Kheil,  an  important  tribe,  divided 
into  two  clans,  the  Bam  Kheil  and  the  Osman 
Kheil.  He  succeeded  his  father,  Fatten  Khan, 
in  1841,  at  Penjtar,  and  helped  the  English 
during  the  annexation  of  Pen  jab.  He  took 
refuge  with  them  in  1857,  as  his  subjects  had 
expelled  him  on  account  of  his  tyranny.  He 
lived  a  long  time  at  Peshawer  on  an  allowance 
of  three  rupees  a  day.  Then  he  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  Amazai  tribe,  and  with 
their  help  retook  Penjtar  in  1874.  His  ene- 
mies submitted;  the  Jirga^  composed  of  eighty 
men,  came  to  receive  him.  The  Goran  was 
brought  for  them  to  take  their  oath  upon  it. 
Just  at  that  moment  the  Amazais  broke  into 
the  hall,  and  all  the  Jirga  was  massacred. 
After  many  vicissitudes,  again  an  exile  and  a 
conqueror,  turn  by  turn,  he  came  once  more, 
two  years  ago,  to  sit  a  refugee  at  the  hearth  of 
the  English.  The  commissioner,  Colonel  Wa- 

1  The  Council  of  the  Elders. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     123 

terfield,  gave  him  a  plot  of  ground  on  free  rent. 
"The  old  man  is  so  old,"  said  the  commissioner 
to  me,  "that  he  will  not  long  be  a  charge  upon 
the  budget  of  India." 

Here  is  the  tale  of  the  massacre,  as  told  by 
the  poet  Arsal :  — 

"  Firoz 1  said  to  the  Jirga  :  '  We  will  make  peace  at 
present  for  policy's  sake.  We  will  send  away  the  Ama- 
zais,  the  Khan  will  remain  alone,  and  then  he  will  hear 
what  we  have  to  say.' 

"  The  Jirga  made  peace  ;  but  a  thought  of  treason  lay 
in  the  heart  of  each  of  them  :  '  We  will  sack  Ghazikot.' 
Ghazan  was  a  partisan  of  the  Khan  ;  he  informed  him  of 
the  plot. 

"  Ghazan  informed  him  to  the  full  of  all  that  was  going 
on  ;  he  told  him  :  '  Put  not  thy  trust  in  them  ;  the  Jirga 
has  decreed  thy  death.  Slaughter  them  each  and  all, 
that  thou  mayest  have  no  longer  to  weary  thyself  con- 
cerning them  ! ' 

"  The  Jirga  and  the  Khan  met  together.  My  support 
is  in  the  merciful  God  !  With  them  were  Ghula^n  and 
Sheik  Husein  :  may  their  face  be  black  before  the  Lord  ! 

"  The  Khan  said  :  '  Firoz  !  Thou  committest  treason 
every  day.  Take  me  to  Penjtar  !  I,  the  prince  of  this 
land,  go  from  door  to  door  as  a  beggar.' 

"Firoz  answered  :  'Thou  art  our  Khan.  Come,  make 
no  havoc  amongst  us.  We  will  bring  back  prosperity  to 
thy  house.  We  will  give  thee  Penjtar.  Between  us  and 
thee  here  is  the  Goran.' 

"  The  Khan  said  frankly  :  '  You  take  oath  in  my  hands 
now,  and  yet  you  will  afterwards  conspire  against  me. 
You  will  betray  me  when  my  army  is  dispersed.' 

1  The  Chief  of  the  Anti-Muqarrab  party. 


124     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

"  The  Jirga  answered  :  '  Why  should  we  play  the 
traitor  ?  Thou  art  our  Khan  for  ever.' 

"  The  two  chiefs  kissed  one  another,  they  sat  down  in 
the  midst  of  the  Jirga.  .  .  .  The  Amazais  broke  in,  a 
tumult  arises,  all  disperse.  The  Khan  has  broken  his 
promise,  belied  his  own  word.  It  has  made  all  the  world 
deaf  and  blind. 

"  The  Khedu  Kheil  had  been  taken  unawares  ;  they 
did  not  understand  what  was  being  done  ;  they  were  put 
to  the  sword,  O  my  friend.  This  was  written  in  their 
destiny. 

"  With  the  help  of  the  Amazais,  the  Khan  slaughtered 
the  Khedu  Kheil.  There  was  mercy  for  no  one  ;  no  one 
escaped.  Amongst  the  victims  was  Mairu,  who  was  the 
malik  of  the  Mada  Kheil ;  he  was  cut  to  pieces  with  the 
Persian  swords. 

"The  night  went.  In  the  morning  the  news  spread. 
Some  were  indignant,  some  were  glad.  It  was  a  great  sor- . 
row  with  the  Osman  Kheil ;  their  time  has  passed  away." 

The  poet  does  not  precisely  approve  of  Mu- 
qarrab;  but  if  you  look  coldly  at  things,  who 
is  the  good  Afghan  who  in  his  stead  would  have 
not  done  the  same?  In  the  struggle  for  life,  a 
man's  word  is  only  a  weapon,  and  an  oath  is  a 
hunting  net  as  good  as  any  other  or  better. 
The  Jirga  of  the  Khedu  Kheil  had  forgotten 
that  terrible  maxim  of  their  nation:  "When 
thou  hast  reconciled  thyself  with  thy  foe,  then 
beware  of  him." 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     125 

IV. 

THE  KLEPHT. 

The  Afghans  have  a  noble  maxim,  worthy  of 
any  Stoic:  "If  thou  hast,  eat;  if  thou  hast  not, 
die."1  Unfortunately  they  do  not  live  up  to 
it,  and  in  practice  it  becomes:  "If  thou  hast, 
eat;  if  thou  hast  not,  take."  The  ideal  of  a 
man  is  to  live  upon  his  neighbor.  The  Afridis 
of  the  Khaiber  Pass  lived  for  centuries  upon 
the  plunder  of  the  caravans,  till  the  British 
Government  enlisted  these  hereditary  robbers 
as  regular  gendarmes,  and  compounded  for  their 
right  of  plunder  by  a  regular  annuity.  The 
Ghilzais,  who  are  just  now  making  life  rather 
uneasy  to  the  Emir,  proudly  interpret  their 
name  as  "Son  of  robber,"  and  live  according 
to  the  etymology.  When  a  child  is  born,  his 
mother  bores  a  hole  through  the  mud  wall  of 
the  hut,  and  makes  it  pass  through,  saying: 
"  Ghal  zai  —  be  a  good  robber,  my  child." 
The  Kashmiris,  who  were  for  seventy  years 
under  the  Afghan  yoke,  have  described  in  one 
line  the  morals  of  those  strictest  among  Mussul- 
mans, and  the  worst  amongst  plunderers:  "To 
pray  is  piety  (qarz),  to  prey  is  duty  (farz)." 

In  the  British  territory,  though  the  idea  of 
law  and  order  has  made  remarkable  progress, 

1  Thorburn,  Bannu. 


126      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

and  people,  who  formerly  were  wont  to  settle 
their  quarrels  according  to  the  prescriptions  of 
the  Nangi  Pukhtana,  are  not  seldom  willing  to 
have  them  brought  to  Kachehri,  yet  the  Klepht 
is  still  a  national  hero,  and  a  favorite  subject 
with  popular  poets.  One  died  three  or  four 
years  ago,  whose  name  is  still  on  the  lips  of  all. 
This  is  his  story  as  it  was  told  to  me. 

Nairn  Shah  was  born  near  Cherat,  a  military 
station  in  the  Khatak  mountains.  His  brother 
was  insulted  by  the  Sikh  Phul  Singh,  who  was 
Kotval,  or  chief  of  the  police  station,  at  Nau- 
shehra,  an  important  cantonment  on  the  Kabul 
River,  with  two  regiments.  He  lodged  a  com- 
plaint with  the  British  commandant ;  the  com- 
plaint was  discarded ;  then  he  applied  for  justice 
to  his  brother.  Nairn  Shah  wrote  to  the  Kotval, 
saying:  "You  have  harmed  my  brother,  I  will 
harm  you."  The  Kotval  and  the  General 
laughed;  but  on  the  same  night  Nairn  Shah 
broke  into  the  town  with  a  hundred  men,  looted 
it,  entered  the  kotvali,  sat  as  a  judge,  had  time 
enough  to  have  one  of  his  enemies  sentenced 
and  shot.  The  noise  awakens  the  commandant, 
who  arrives  from  the  distant  cantonment  just  in 
time  to  see  him  fleeing  down  the  river.  He  pur- 
sues him  there  for  hours  in  vain.  "Nairn  Shah 
was  not  a  fish  to  hide  himself  in  the  river;  "  he 
was  a  man  of  the  mountain,  and  was  already 
safe  in  his  Khatak  den,  while  they  were  still 
hunting  him  down  the  river. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      127 

Once  upon  a  time  Nairn  Shah  met  "the  Gen- 
eral Sab."1  The  General  was  one  of  his  great 
admirers;  he  said  to  him:  "Will  you  enter  my 
service?"  "With  pleasure,"  was  the  answer; 
"but  you  must  first  put  to  death  the  Kotval  of 
Naushehra."  The  General  objected  to  the  con- 
dition, and  the  negotiation  was  stopped;  but  he 
sent  him,  as  a  token  of  esteem,  a  gun,  a  sword, 
a  pistol,  two  hundred  rupees,  and  a  milch  cow. 
Nairn  Shah  was  touched  with  the  proceedings ; 
but  this  did  not  prevent  his  slaughtering  an 
entire  picket  at  Chahkot;  he  retired  peacefully, 
carrying  with  him  some  twenty  Martini  guns,  — 
quite  a  fortune  for  a  poor  Afghan  robber. 

The  government  at  last  had  recourse  to  the 
unfailing  method:  they  put  a  prize  of  3,000 
rupees  on  his  head.  Nairn  Shah,  taken  by  sur- 
prise while  asleep  at  Kohi,  was  wounded  to 
death  before  he  could  defend  himself.  All  the 
poets  mourned  his  death;  here  is  one  of  their 
songs,  equal  to  any  of  the  Klepht  songs  in 
Fauriel :  — 

"  They  fell  down  upon  him  unawares,  he  was  captured  ; 
Nairn  Shall  was  the  falcon  of  the  black  mountains,  he  was 

the  man  of   the  great  heart.     The  report  of  the 

guns  burst  unexpectedly  upon  him. 
It  was  the  hand  of  God  that  fired  the  guns,  for  he  was 

stronger  than  a  Nawab.     He  opened  his  eyes  from 

his  sleep,  and  this  time  the  Tiger's  shot  missed. 
The  Tiger  spoke  in  this  manner  :  '  O  that  the  fight  were 
1  Sab,  the  popular  pronunciation  for  Sahib. 


128     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

in  the  open  field  !  This  is  the  regret  left  in  my 

heart.'     Death  had  taken  him  to  Kohi  :  who  could 

help  him  ? 
Death  said :  '  Go  not  further  :  here  is  the  place,  under 

this  vine.'     The  foes  came  upon  him  from  above, 

from  below  ;  they  were  men  without  the  fear  of 

God.     He  gave  up  the  ghost. 
What  Fate  has  written  cannot  be  altered  :  they  were  men 

without  the  fear  of  God.     May  curses  rain  upon 

them  ! 
As  he  had  still  breath  left  in  his  body,  the  Thdnadar  1 

came  by. 
The  Thanadar  said  to  him  :  '  Tell  me,  why  did  you  sleep 

untimely  ?     So   did  the   guns  devour   thee   from 

afar.' 
He  expounded  the  matter  to  the  Thanadar,  and  breathed 

his  last. 
He  expounded  all  the  matter  as  it  stood.     They  took  him 

to  the  koti  2  at  Peshawer.     All  people  heard  the 

news  :  they  looked  at  the  face  of  Ndim  Shdh  : 8 

all  the  people  of  the  town  were  there. 
All   the  people  met   at  the  koti :   O  hero,  thy  house  is 

empty  !     No  hero  ever  will  appear   who  is   like 

unto  Nairn  Shdh.     The  Engriz  Government  was 

sorry  for  his  death.4 
His  mother  came  out  of  the  house,8  she  stood  before  the 

Engriz  bareheaded.     I  am  sorrowful  for  it ;  black, 

black  is  my  grief  ! 
YASIN  says  ;  they  heaped  the  earth  above  him." 

1  The  chief  of  the  police  station. 

2  Police  station. 

3  Nequeunt  expleri  corda  tuende, 
Os  hominia," 

But  here  even  Hercules  feels  with  Cacus. 

4  Of  course  they  would  have  liked  to  keep  him  alive  for 
the  gallows. 

6  A  thing  which  an  Afghan  woman  never  does. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     129 

V. 

LOVE  AND   FAMILY  SONGS. 

Love-songs  are  plentiful  with  the  Afghans, 
though  whether  they  are  acquainted  with  love 
is  rather  doubtful.  Woman  with  the  Afghans 
is  a  purchasable  commodity;  she  is  not  wooed 
and  won  with  her  own  consent,  she  is  bought 
from  her  father.  The  average  price  of  a  young 
and  good-looking  girl  is  from  about  300  to  500 
rupees.  To  reform  the  ideas  of  an  Afghan 
upon  that  matter  would  be  a  desperate  task. 
When  Seid  Ahmed,  the  great  Wahabi  leader, 
the  prophet,  leader,  and  king  of  the  Yusufzai 
Afghans,  tried  to  abolish  the  marriage  by  sale, 
his  power  fell  at  once,  he  had  to  flee  for  his 
life,  and  died  an  outlaw.  There  is  no  song  in 
the  world  so  sad  and  dismal  as  that  which  is 
sung  to  the  bride  by  her  friends.  They  come 
to  congratulate  —  no,  to  console  her,  like  Jeph- 
thah's  daughter;  they  go  to  her,  sitting  in  a 
corner,  and  sing :  — 

"  You  remain  sitting  in  a  corner  and  cry  to  us. 
What  can  we  do  for  you  ? 
Tour  father  has  received  the  money." 

All  of  love  that  the  Afghan  knows  is  jeal- 
ousy. All  crimes  are  said  to  have  their  cause 
in  one  of  the  three  z's:  zar.  zamin.  or  zan  — 


130     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

money,  earth,  or  woman ;  the  third  z  is  in  fact 
the  most  frequent  of  the  three  causes. 

The  Afghan  love-song  is  artificial;  the  Af- 
ghan poet  seems  to  have  been  at  the  school  of 
the  Minnesinger  or  the  troubadours.  It  is  the 
same  mievrerie  which  seems  almost  to  amuse 
itself  with  its  love  —  more  witty  than  passion- 
ate, a  play  of  imagination  more  than  a  cry  of 
the  heart.  They  would  have  felt  with  Petrarch 
or  Heine,  si  parva  licet  componere  magnis. 
There  is  much  of  the  convenu  and  of  the  poeti- 
cal commonplace  in  their  songs,  as  there  is  in 
those  of  their  elder  brothers  in  Europe.  You 
will  hardly  find  one  in  which  you  do  not  meet 
the  clinking  of  the  pezvan  (the  ring  in  the  nose 
of  the  Afghan  beauty),  the  blinking  of  the  gold 
muhurs  dangling  from  her  hair,  the  radiance  of 
the  green  mole  in  her  cheek;  and  the  flames  of 
separation,  and  the  begging  of  the  beggar,  the 
dervish  at  her  door,  come  as  pilgrim  of  love; 
and  the  sickness  of  the  sick,  waiting  for  health 
at  her  hand;  and  the  warbling  of  the  tuti^- 
sighing  by  night  for  his  beloved  kharo  bird. 
Yet  in  the  long  run  one  finds  a  charm  in  these 
rather  affected  strains,  though  not  the  direct, 
straightforward,  all-possessing  rapture  of  simple 
and  sincere  emotion.  It  is  difficult  to  give  in  a 
translation  an  idea  of  that  charm,  as  it  can 

1  The  tuti  is  the  Indian  parrot ;  he  is  supposed  to  be  in  love 
•with  the  Maina  bird,  whom  the  Afghans  called  Kharo. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      131 

hardly  be  separated  from  the  simple,  monoto- 
nous tune  ever  recurring,  as  well  as  from  the 
rich  and  high-sounding  rhyme  for  which  the 
Afghan  poet  has  the  instinct  of  a  modern  Par- 
nassian. The  most  popular  love-songs  are  those 
of  Mira  of  Peshawer,  Tavakkul  of  Jelalabad, 
and  Mohammed  Taila  of  Naushehra.  Here  is 
the  world -known  "Zakhme  "  of  Mira:  — 

"  1.   I  am  sitting  in  sorrow,  wounded  with  the  stab  of 

separation,  low  low  ! 

She  carried  back  my  heart  in  her  talons,  when  she 
came  to-day,  my  bird  kharo,  low  low  ! 

2.  I  am  ever  struggling,  I  am  red  with  my  blood,  I  am 

your  dervish. 

My  life  is  a  pang.     My  love  is  my  doctor  ;  I  am  wait- 
ing for  the  remedy,  low  low  ! 

3.  She  has  a  pomegranate  on  her  breast,  she  has  sugar  on 

her  lips,  she  has  pearls  for  her  teeth  : 
All  this  she  has,  my  beloved  one  ;  I  am  wounded  in 
my  heart,  and  therefore  I  am  a  beggar  that  cries, 
low  low  ! 

4.  It  is   due  that  I  should  be  your  servant ;  have  a 

thought  for  me,  my  soul,  ever  and  ever. 
Evening  and  morning  I  lie  at  thy  door  ;  I  am  the  first 
of  thy  lovers,  low  low  ! 

5.  Mira  is  thy  slave,  his  salam  is  on  thee  ;  thy  tresses 

are  his  net,  thy  place  is  Paradise  ;  put  in  thy  cage 
thy  slanderer. 

6.  He  who  says  a   ghazal  and  says   it  on  the  tune   of 

another  man,  he  can  call  himself  a  thief  at  every 
ghazal  he  says.  —  This  word  of  mine  is  truth." 

I  shall  give  only  one  other  ghazal,  which  de- 
rives a  particular  interest  from  the  personality 


132      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

of  its  author,  as  well  as  from  a  touch  of  reverie 
and  quaint  lunacy,  rarely  met  in  Afghan  poetry. 
When  I  visited  the  prison  of  Abbottabad,  in 
company  with  the  assistant-commissioner,  Mr. 
P. ,  I  saw  there  a  man  who  had  been  sentenced 
to  several  months  imprisonment  for  breaking  a 
Hindu's  leg  in  a  drunken  brawl.  The  man 
was  not  quite  sane;  he  told  Mr.  P.  that  he  was 
not  what  he  was  supposed  to  be ;  that  he  was  a 
king,  and  ought  to  be  put  on  the  gadi.  His 
name  was  Mohammadji.  Next  day  I  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  from  a  native  that  Mohammadji 
was  a  poet,  an  itinerant  poet  from  Pakli,  who 
more  than  once  had  been  in  trouble  with  jus- 
tice, for  he  was  rather  a  disorderly  sort  of  poet. 
Here  is  a  ballad,  written  by  the  prisoner,  and 
which  is  quite  a  little  masterpiece,  "in  a  sensu- 
ous, elementary  way  —  half  Baudelaire,  half 
Song  of  Solomon :  "  — 

"  Last  night  I  strolled  through  the  bazaar  of  the  black 
locks  ;  I  foraged,  like  a  bee,  in  the  bazaar  of  the 
black  locks.1 

Last  night  I  strolled  through  the  grove  of  the  black 
locks  ;  I  foraged,  like  a  bee,  through  the  sweetness 
of  the  pomegranate. 

I  bit  my  teeth  into  the  virgin  chin  of  my  love  ;  then  I 
breathed  up  the  smell  of  the  garland  from  the 
neck  of  my  Queen,  from  her  black  locks. 

Last  night  I  strolled  in  the  bazaar  of  the  black  locks  ;  I 
foraged  .  .  . 

1  See  Baudelaire,  La  Ckevelure  ("  Les  Fleurs  du  Mai,"  xxiv.). 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      133 

You  have  breathed  up  the  smell  of  my  garland,  O  my 
friend,  and  therefore  you  are  drunken  with  it  ;  you 
fell  asleep,  like  Bahrain  on  the  bed  of  Sarasia.1 
Then  thereafter  there  is  one  who  will  take  your 
life,  because  you  have  played  the  thief  upon  my 
cheeks.  He  is  so  angry  with  you,  the  chaukidar 
of  the  black  locks. 
Last  night  .  .  . 

"  Is  he  so  angry  with  me,  my  little  one  ?     God  will  keep 

me,  will  he  not  ? 

Stretch  out  as  a  staff,2  thy  long  black  locks,  wilt  thou  not  ? 
Give  me  up  thy  white  face,  satiate  me  like  the  Tuti,  wilt 

thou  not  ? 
For  once  let  me  loose  through  the  granary  of  the  black 

locks. 

Last  night  .  .  . 

"  I  shall  let  you,  my  friend,  into  the  garden  of  the  white 

breast. 
But  after  that  you  will  rebel  from  me  and  go  scornfully 

away. 
And  yet  when  I  show  my  white  face  the  light  of  the  lamp 

vanishes. 

O  Lord  !  give  me  the  beauty  of  the  black  locks. 
Last  night  .  .  . 

"  The  Lord  gave  thee  the  peerless  beauty.  Look  upon 
me,  my  enchanting  one  !  I  am  thy  servant. 

Yesterday,  at  the  dawn  of  day,  I  sent  to  thee  the  messen- 
ger. The  snake  bit  me  to  the  heart,  the  snake  of 
thy  black  locks. 

Last  night  .  .  . 

*  An  allusion  to  a  popular  tale  of  Bahrain  Shahzada. 
'2  To  protect  me. 


134      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

"  I  will  charm  the  snake  with  my  breath  ;  my  little  one, 
I  am  a  charmer. 

But  I,  poor  wretch,  I  am  slandered  in  thine  honor. 

Come,  let  us  quit  Pakli,  I  hold  the  wicked  man,1  in  hor- 
ror. 

I  give  to  thee  full  power  over  the  black  locks. 

"  MOHAMMADJI  has  full  power  over  the  poets  in  Pakli. 
He  raises  the  tribute,  he  is  one  of  the  Emirs  of  Delhi. 
He  rules  his  kingdom,  he  governs  it  with  the  black  locks. 
Last  night  I  strolled  through  the  bazaar  of  the  black 

locks  ;  I  foraged,  like  a  bee,  through  the  bazaar  of 

the  black  locks." 

Poor  Mohammadji,  as  you  may  see  from  the 
last  stanza,  was  already  seized  with  the  mania 
of  grandeurs  before  he  entered  the  prison  at 
Abbottabad,  though  he  dreamed  as  yet  only  of 
poetical  royalty.  If  these  lines  ever  reach  Pen- 
jab,  and  find  there  any  friend  of  poetry  amongst 
the  powers  that  be,  may  I  be  allowed  to  recom- 
mend to  their  merciful  aid  the  poor  poet  of 
Pakli,  a  being  doubly  sacred,  a  poet  and  a 
divanaf  and  one  who  thus  doubly  needs  both 
mercy  for  his  faults  and  help  through  life. 

There  is  a  poetical  genre  peculiar  to  Afghan 
poetry;  it  is  the  misra.3  The  misra  is  a  dis- 
tique,  that  expresses  one  idea,  one  feeling,  and 
is  a  complete  poem  by  itself.  Poets,  in  poeti- 
cal assauts,  vie  one  with  another  in  quoting  or 

1  Her  husband.  2  A  lunatic. 

8  A  friend  points  to  the  remarkable  similarity  of  the  Af- 
ghan misra  with  the  stornello  in  the  popular  poetry  of  Italy. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      135 

improvising  misras.  They  refer  generally  to 
love  and  love  affairs,  and  some  are  exquisitely 
simple :  — 

"  My  love  does  not  accept  the  flower  from  my  hand  ;  I 
will  send  her  the  stars  of  Heaven  in  a  Jirga." 

"  Thy  image  appears  to  me  in  my  dreams,  I  awake  in  the 
night  and  cry  till  the  morning." 

"  I  told  him  :  There  is  such  a  thing  as  separation,  and 
my  friend  burst  into  laughter  till  he  grew  green." 

"  When  the  perfume  of  thy  locks  comes  to  me,  it  is  the 
morning  that  comes  to  me  and  I  blossom  like  the 
rose." 

"  O  letter,  blessed  be  thy  fate  !  Thou  art  going  to  see 
my  beloved." 

"  My  honor  and  my  name,  my  life  and  my  wealth  —  I 
will  give  everything  for  the  eyes  of  my  beloved." 

"  Strike  my  head,  plunder  my  goods,  but  let  me  see  the 
eyes  of  the  one  I  love,  and  I  will  give  my  blood." 

"  Red  are  thy  lips,  white  are  thy  teeth,  so  that  at  thy 
sight  the  angels  of  heaven  are  confounded." 

"  —  Red  are  my  lips,  white  are  my  teeth  ;  they  are  thine. 
To  the  others  the  dust  of  the  earth  !  " 

"  O  my  soul !  at  last  thou  wilt  become  dust  ;  for  I  have 
seen  the  eyes  of  my  friend,  and  they  were  friendly 
no  more." 


136      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

"  Were  there  a  narrow  passage  to  the  dark  niche  in  the 
grave.  I  should  go  and  offer  flowers  to  my  love." 

"  O  master  builder !  his  grave  was  too  well  made  ;  and 
my  friend  will  stay  as  long  as  time  lasts." 

Of  the  inner  family  life,  popular  song  is  rather 
reticent.  Of  the  brutality  of  man,  the  slavery 
of  woman,  the  harsh  voice,  the  insult,  the 
strokes,  the  whipping  at  the  post,  the  fits  of 
mad  jealousy  without  love,  it  has  nothing  to 
say.  Women,  however,  have  also  their  poetry 
and  their  poets,  the  duman ;  but  that  poetry 
goes  hardly  out  of  the  walls  of  the  harem.  I 
was  fortunate  enough  to  gather  some  fragments 
of  it,  though  less  than  I  should  have  liked.  A 
child  is  a  child  even  to  an  Afghan  mother :  — 

"  Your  two  large  eyes  are  like  the  stars  of  heaven  : 
Your  white  face  is  like  the  throne  of  Shah  Jahan  : 
Your  two  tender  delicate  arms  are  like  blades  of  Iran  : 
And  your  slender  body  is  like  the  standard  of  Solomon. 
My  life  for  you  !     Do  not  cry  !  " 

"  O  Lord  !  give  me  a  son  who  says  '  Papa  !  papa  ! ' 
Let  his  mother  wash  him  in  milk  ! 
Let  her  rub  him  with  butter  ! 
They  will  call  him  to  the  mosque. 
The  Molla  will  teach  him  reading, 
And  the  students  will  kiss  him." 

"  Dear,  dear  child  !  a  flower  in  your  hat  ! 
It  shines  like  a  sprig  of  gold  !  " 

The  following  is   a  nursery  rhyme  which  I 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      137 

believe  is  unparalleled  in  the  whole  of  the  nur- 
sery literature ;  it  is  history  as  well  as  a  lullaby. 
In  the  time  of  the  Sikh  domination,  I  am 
told,  a  Sikh  carried  away  by  force  a  Yusufzai 
girl,  and  took  her  to  Lahore.  Her  brothers 
went  in  search  of  her,  and  after  a  year  found 
at  last  the  place  where  she  lived.  She  had  a 
child  by  the  Sikh.  She  recognized  them  from 
the  window,  put  the  child  in  the  cradle,  and 
while  her  husband  was  drunk  asleep,  she  rocked 
the  child  with  a  lullaby  in  which  she  informed 
her  brothers  of  all  they  had  to  do.  The  Sikhs 
are  gone,  but  the  lullaby  is  still  sung :  — 

"  Swing,  swing,  zangutai !  l 

Come  not,  ye  robbers.    Come  not  by  the  lower  side  : 

come  by  the  upper  side,  sweet  and  low. 
Swing,  swing,  zangutai ! 

There  are  two  dogs  inside  ;  I  have  tied  them  with  rims. 
Swing,  swing,  zangutai ! 

There  is  a  little  basket  inside,  full  with  sovereigns. 
Swing,  swing,  zangutai ! 

There  is  a  bear  2  asleep  ;  come  quickly  therefore. 
Swing,  swing,  zangutai  ! 

If  he  becomes  aware  of  you,  there  will  be  no  salvation 

in  your  distress. 
Swing,  swing,  zangutai ! 

The  infidel   is  a  drunkard,  he  does  not  perceive  the 

noise. 
Swing,  swing,  zangutai !  " 

But  every  life  must  end  with  voceros. 
During  the  agony  all  the  family  surround  the 

1  Zangutai:  berceaunette  in  French.  2  Her  husband. 


138      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

dying,  and  repeat  the  sacred  formula,  AsTihadu: 
"I  bear  witness  that  Allah  is  God,  and  there  is 
no  other  God.  I  bear  witness  that  Mohammed 
is  his  servant  and  apostle."  Thus  the  dying 
soul  is  kept  in  the  remembrance  of  God,  and 
brought  to  repeat  the  Ashhadu,  and  dies  in 
confessing  God,  and  is  saved.  In  the  moment 
when  his  soul  goes,  an  angel  comes,  and  con- 
verses with  him,  questions  him,  and,  recogniz- 
ing a  good  Mussulman,  says:  "Thy  faith  is 
perfect."  Then  the  men  leave  the  room;  the 
women  sit  around  the  dying  bed ;  the  daughter, 
sister,  or  wife  of  the  deceased,  standing  before 
the  dead,  repeats  the  vocero  for  an  hour,  and  at 
each  time  the  chorus  of  women  answer  with  a 
long,  piercing  lamentation,  that  thrills  through 
the  hearts  of  the  men  in  the  courtyard,  and 
creates  the  due  sorrow. 

Here  are  some  of  the  voceros :  a  mere  trans- 
lation cannot  of  course  render  the  effect  of  those 
simple  plaints,  which  derive  most  of  their  power 
from  the  accent  and  the  mere  physical  display 
of  emotion. 

For  a  father :  — 

"  Alas  !  alas  !  my  father  ! 
I  shall  see  you  no  more  on  the  road. 
The  world  has  become  desolate  to  you  forever." 

For  a  mother :  — 

"  O  my  mother  !  the  rose-hued, 

You  kept  me  so  tenderly, 

I  shed  for  you  tears  of  blood." 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      139 

For  a  husband :  — 

"  You  were  the  lord  of  my  life  : 
Then  to  me  a  king  was  a  beggar  : 
This  was  the  time  when  I  was  a  queen." 

For  a  daughter :  — 

"  O  my  daughter  !  so  much  caressed, 
Whom  I  had  kept  so  tenderly, 
Now  you  have  deserted  me, 
This  world  is  the  place  of  sorrow." 


VI. 


AFGHAN  POLITICS  —  THE  AMBELA   CAMPAIGN 
—  THE  AFGHAN  WAR. 

About  the  romantic  and  religious  literature 
of  the  Afghans  there  is  too  little  or  too  much 
to  say.  I  come  at  once  to  a  subject  of  more 
particular  interest.  What  is  the  echo  of  politi- 
cal events  in  the  popular  literature  ? 

The  history  of  Afghanistan  could  be  traced 
in  songs  from  our  days  back  to  the  days  of 
Ahmed  Shah,  the  founder  of  the  Durani  empire ; 
even  farther,  to  the  time  of  Akbar.  Not  all 
those  songs  are  contemporary  with  the  events, 
but  they  embody  at  least  an  old  tradition,  and 
sometimes,  through  the  happy  habit  of  plagiar- 
ism, are  authentic  relics  of  the  past.  The  wars 
with  the  Sikhs,  the  quarrels  of  the  Barukzai 
Sardars,  the  crusade,  miracles,  and  death  of 


140      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

Seid  Ahmed,  have  all  left  poetical  records,  still 
preserved  in  the  memory  of  the  older  poets  of 
the  day  and  soon  to  be  buried  with  them.  I 
leave  these  older  songs  of  mere  antiquarian  in- 
terest and  come  to  the  question  of  actual  inter- 
est: What  have  the  poets  of  the  more  recent 
period  to  tell  the  people  in  the  British  districts, 
Afghanistan  and  Yaghistan?  or  better,  What 
do  these  people  expect  their  poets  to  tell  them 
about  their  masters,  allies,  and  foes,  the  En- 
griz? 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  one-sidedness  of  the 
English,  that  neither  Kaye,  the  author  of  that 
otherwise  beautiful  and  thorough  history  of  the 
first  Afghan  war,  nor  Mr.  Hensman,  of  the 
"Pioneer,"  the  reporter  of  the  last  Afghan  war, 
seems  to  have  had  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the 
all-powerful  influence  of  popular  poetry  in  either 
case.  Imagine  a  German  writing  a  history  of 
the  French  Revolution  without  mentioning  the 
"Marseillaise."  Songs,  moreover,  with  sing- 
ing, non-writing  people,  are  the  only  reliable 
documents  which  remain  to  prove  their  true 
feeling.  Mohammed  Hayat,  the  assistant  po- 
litical agent  in  Cabul  during  the  last  war,  who 
knows  the  Afghans  well,  was  not  mistaken  when 
he  ascribed  the  rising  of  the  Afghans  in  1839 
to  the  preaching  of  the  Mollas  and  the  songs  of 
the  poets.  What  the  Molla  preaches,  the  poet 
sings;  and  when  the  Molla  has  preached  and 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      141 

the  poet  sung,  the  turn  of  speech  goes  soon  to 
the  gun. 

I  could  unfortunately  procure  no  songs  of  the 
first  war :  I  must  pass  at  once  to  the  most  popu- 
lar cycle  of  historical  ballads  now  in  existence, 
—  the  cycle  of  the  Ambela  campaign.  That 
campaign,  not  much  known  to  the  general  Eng- 
lish reader,  I  suppose,  is  not  yet  forgotten  on 
the  Penjab  border,  and  has  left  amongst  the 
Afghans  more  vivid  recollections  than  even  the 
last  war,  though  more  than  twenty-five  years 
have  elapsed  since  then. 

In  1824,  as  the  Sikh  infidels  were  holding 
the  Penjab,  a  Seid  from  Bareilli,  Seid  Ahmed, 
preached  a  return  to  the  primitive  purity  of 
Islam ;  he  established  himself  amongst  the  tribes 
of  Yaghistan  with  a  small  band  of  devoted  men 
from  Hindustan,  and  on  the  20th  of  December, 
1826,  preached  the  Sacred  War,  and  the  con- 
quest of  the  infidels  from  the  Sikhs  to  the 
Chinese.  After  wonderful  successes,  he  per- 
ished in  an  encounter  with  the  Sikhs.  But  the 
colony  of  "Hindustani  fanatics,"  as  they  are 
called,  which  he  had  brought  with  him,  re- 
mained there,  receiving  recruits,  arms,  and 
money  from  their  brothers  in  Bengal,  ever 
ready  to  fight  the  good  battle.  In  184d  the 
British  took  the  place  of  the  Sikhs  in  the  hatred 
of  the  Hindustanis  as  well  as  in  the  empire  of 
Penjab.  From  1850  to  1857  they  had  to  send 


142     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

sixteen  expeditions  against  the  rebel  camp  at 
Sitana,  whence  plundering  raids  were  contin- 
ually directed  across  the  border.  In  1863,  af- 
ter new  outrages,  it  was  decided  that  an  expe- 
dition should  be  sent  to  expel  them  from  their 
den,  and  on  the  19th  of  October  a  well-equipped 
force  of  7,000  men  entered  the  then  unknown 
Ambela  Pass,  under  the  orders  of  General 
Chamberlain. 

The  Ambela  Pass  turns  round  the  inexpugn- 
able Massif  of  Sitana,  but  it  belongs  to  neutral 
tribes.  Chamberlain  thought  it  inopportune 
to  inform  them  of  his  plans,  lest  the  Hindus- 
tanis should  have  time  to  prepare  for  resist- 
ance ;  he  hoped  he  could  reach  Sitana  in  a  day 
or  two,  burn  it  down,  and  then  retire  at  once 
into  British  territory.  The  Afghans  did  not 
view  things  in  that  light;  when  they  saw  7,000 
men,  with  4,000  mules  of  baggage,  draw  near 
the  pass,  they  took  fear;  they  believed  their 
own  independence  was  in  danger,  and  blocked 
the  road.  Chamberlain  was  obliged  to  stop; 
four  days  later,  the  12,000  fighting  men  of 
Buner  took  the  gun;  and  the  Sahib  of  Svat, 
the  highest  religious  authority  of  Indian  Islam, 
though  a  bitter  foe  to  Seid  Ahmed's  doctrine 
and  party,  which  to  him  smacked  of  Wahab- 
ism,  proclaimed  the  Sacred  War.  For  two 
months  all  Yaghistan  came  pouring  upon  the 
pass;  and  in  spite  of  repeated  reinforcements, 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      143 

Chamberlain  remained  for  weeks  at  the  entrance 
of  the  pass  without  advancing  a  step.  The  Eng- 
lish historians  speak  of  a  point  that  was  taken, 
lost,  and  retaken  three  days  together;  it  is 
known  still  amongst  the  Afghans  by  the  name 
of  Katal  garh,  the  Castle  of  Slaughter.  The 
Afghans  charged  the  gunners  with  sticks,  and 
stopped  with  their  mantles  the  mouths  of  the 
guns.  British  pluck  and  diplomacy  at  last  ex- 
hausted the  constancy  of  the  allies;  jealousy 
crept  in;  the  coalition  melted  like  snow;  "dou- 
ble rupees"  hastened  the  decomposition;  and 
at  last  the  Jirga  of  the  Bunervals  volunteered 
to  guide  the  British  army  to  the  Hindustani 
camp.  Chamberlain,  with  his  new  unexpected 
allies,  went  to  Sitana,  burnt  the  camp,  and  came 
back  through  the  fatal  pass  without  firing  a 
gun.  But  he  had  left  at  the  entrance  one  tenth 
of  his  army. 

That  campaign  ended  officially  in  a  success, 
—  not  a  very  decisive  one,  since  the  Hindustanis 
are  still  at  the  door,  waiting  for  the  time ;  but 
to  the  Afghans  it  was  a  victory  of  the  Afghans 
and  Islam,  and  they  sang  triumphant  songs,  of 
wild  and  epic  eloquence,  which  after  twenty -five 
years  still  fill  the  echoes  of  the  mountain :  — 

"  On  the  top  of  Katalgarh  the  Firangis  came  to  long 
grief :  there  were  cries  of  terror.  Night  came  upon 
them  :  when  they  saw  the  Ghazis,  despair  fell  upon  them. 

"  On  the  top  of  Katalgarh  the  Firangis  had  collected 


144     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

their  troops  ;  from  afar  the  Bunervals  pounced  upon 
them  like  falcons  ;  I  was  astounded  with  their  rush. 

"  The  youths  wore  red  girdles  and  two-colored  buckles; 
cries  rose  from  every  side ;  rifle  bullets  rained  like  rain. 

"  Rifle  bullets  rained  as  fine  rain.  The  Deputy  said  to 
the  Commissioner  :  '  They  have  with  them  a  powerful 
Fakir,1  against  whom  there  is  no  fighting.'  The  regi- 
ments of  the  White  2  cried  aloud,  on  account  of  the  Pir  : 
'  When  shall  we  be  delivered  ?  They  storm  our  ram- 
parts ;  we  cannot  stop  the  Ghazis ;  the  sword  leaves  no 
trace  upon  them.' 

"  O  Master !  I  say  unto  thee  :  '  Blessed  be  thy  native 
place,  the  sacred  land  of  Buner  and  Svat  ! ' 

"  The  General  cried  out :  '  I  have  no  breath  left  in  my 
body.  O  disaster  !  My  army  is  cut  to  pieces.  I  shall 
not  endeavor  again.  Where  is  the  use  ?  In  vain  have  I 
tried  to  reduce  Svat.' 

"  O  Lord  !  make  there  a  carion  3  out  of  that  recreant 
from  Lahore  :  he  will  be  thrown  back  and  broken.  Some 
fled  away  on  all-fours  :  the  Ghazis  butcher  the  others, 
they  will  not  reach  Chimla. 

"  They  plunge  into  the  thickets,  but  they  will  not  be 
saved  for  all  that,  the  ruffians,  the  snakes.  They  do  not 
dare  to  face  the  Ghazis  in  the  fight  ;  the  Ghazis  have 
made  them  flee  along  the  valley.  Islam  has  made  a 
great  feast  upon  them. 

"  For  six  months 4  the  Firangis  have  fought  on  the 
banks  of  Surkavi  ;  they  have  perished  wholesale.  From 
the  top  of  a  high  rock  the  Master  has  pronounced  the 
tekbir,  for  he  is  the  butcher  that  slaughters  them." 

1  The  Sahib  of  Svat. 

2  The  Gaurd,  or  British  troops ;   the  native  contingent  are 
called  Kdld,  the  black. 

8  A  murdar.    The  Infidel  dies  a  carion;  the  Faithful  one 
dies  a  shdhid,  a  martyr. 
*  In  fact,  for  two  months. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      145 

To  realize  all  the  frantic  eloquence  of  the  last 
line,  one  must  remember  that  every  head  of  cat- 
tle that  is  slaughtered  is  supposed  to  be  a  sacri- 
fice to  Allah,  and  is  made  sacred  to  him  with 
the  tekbir  —  Allah  Alcbar  ("God  is  great"). 

The  old  Fakir,  the  Sahib  of  Svat,  was  the 
ideal  centre  of  the  struggle.  It  was  said  that 
he  had  come  riding  on  a  horse  at  the  head  of 
forty  thousand  horsemen.  As  he  most  pru- 
dently kept  at  safe  distance  from  gunshot,  they 
said  that  he  had  the  gift  of  making  himself 
unseen :  - — 

"The  shadow  of  the  hero's  gown  overshadows  the 
Ghazis. 

"  Flee  away,  O  Firangis  !  if  you  want  to  save  your 
life.  The  Sahib  comes  riding  and  the  Akuzais  follow. 
In  the  Anibela  ravines  lie  the  White  with  their  red 
girdles  and  their  disheveled  hair. 

"  The  mercy  of  the  Lord  was  on  the  Babaji,1  for  he 
threw  back  the  Firangis  as  far  as  Calcutta  !  " 

Unfortunately  traitors  have  crept  amongst 
the  Ghazis :  — 

"  Through  the  intercession  of  the  Prophet  and  Master, 
accept  this  prayer  of  mine  :  make  lame  in  both  feet  who- 
ever makes  war  upon  me,  throw  illness  on  his  family,  call 
his  family,  call  calamity  upon  him. 

"Let  Zaid  Ullah  Khan,2  of  Dagar,  tremble  before 
Dagar,  O  Lord." 

It  is  well  known  in  Dagar  that  Zaid  Ullah 's 
name  is  Nihang.z 

1  The  father,  the  Sahib.       2  One  of  the  first  who  deserted. 
8  A  crocodile  ;  a  hypocrite. 


146       AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONS. 

"  As  the  Ghazis  had  met,  he  went  in  the  dead  of  night 
and  made  it  known  to  the  Firangis.  He  told  James  :  * 
'  To-day  thy  life  is  in  great  danger.' 

"  James  answered  :  '  Zaid  Ullah,  I  will  heap  thee  with 
favors.  Thou  shalt  have  from  me  in  perpetuity  fivepence 
a  day.'" 

The  last  Afghan  war  produced  also  a  plenti- 
ful crop  of  songs,  though  I  do  not  find  any  in 
my  collection  that  can  compete  with  the  savage 
eloquence  of  the  Ambela  songs.  They  breathe 
hate  and  scorn  enough,  but  hardly  anything 
better.  Here  are  fragments  that  may  give  an 
idea  of  the  general  tone :  — 

"  The  Firangi  set  out  in  a  rage  ;  he  wants  to  wage  bat- 
tle ;  he  has  collected  an  army.  But  Havas  2  has  received 
their  money,  and  he  serves  loyally  the  Engriz. 

"  Havas  let  himself  be  bought  ;  he  is  not  ashamed  of 
his  bad  renown.  Before  the  Lord  his  forehead  is  black. 
He  told  Kamnari :  '  I  shall  serve  thee  loyally.' 

"  Havas  is  a  traitor  ;  he  nourishes  treason's  self  in  his 
veins.  Great  is  the«glory  of  the  Ghazis  !  Glory  to  the 
Ghazis  who  have  solidly  seized  the  sword. 

"  The  Lat 3  has  spread  rupees  with  full  hands  ;  the 
Ghazis  cried  with  shame.  He  has  filled  with  them  the 
Afridis,  who  feed  on  the  flesh  of  the  dead. 

"  The  Mohmands  are  numerous,  like  dust  ;  the  Ghazis 
have  hurried  forward  with  forced  marches,  and  I  have 
sung. 

1  The  Deputy  Commissioner. 

2  The  malik  of  the  Afridis,  who  opened  the  Khaiher  Pass 
for  the  English. 

8  Lat,  Lord ;  the  commander-in-chief . 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     147 

"  But  there  were  no  chiefs,  no  munitions.  Had  they 
been  all  of  one  accord,  had  they  all  met  on  one  point,  had 
they  camped  at  Bash  Balag,  the  Firangis  would  not  have 
taken  Lalpura. 

"  But  some  went  over  to  the  worship  of  the  recreant ; 
they  received  money  from  him,  they  became  the  foes  of 
the  Prophet. 

"  For  five  farthings  they  denied  Islam  :  their  forehead 
is  already  black  for  the  day  of  doom. 

"  Whoever  is  a  Mussulman,  whoever  is  of  good  faith 
in  Islam,  goes  to  the  sacred  war,  gives  up  life  and  goods 
for  the  law  of  the  Holy  Prophet,  and  is  not  afraid  of  the 
impious." 

The  murder  of  Cavagnari  —  or,  as  they  pro- 
nounce it,  Kamnari  —  is  often  alluded  to,  gen- 
erally as  a  fine  feat  of  Islam.  The  current 
native  report  is,  that  an  Afghan  regiment  came 
to  ask  their  arrears  of  pay  from  the  new  Emir, 
Yaqub  Khan,  who  directed  them  to  Cavagnari, 
as  being  the  real  master  in  Cabul.  They  were 
sent  back  by  Cavagnari  to  the  Emir,  and  again 
by  the  Emir  to  Cavagnari,  who  ordered  his 
men  to  fire  at  them,  though  they  were  disarmed ; 
then  all  the  city  rose,  and  the  massacre  fol- 
lowed :  — 

"  Mohammed  Yaqub  Khan  was  the  son  of  the  Emir  ; 
he  was  not  a  child  —  he  was  great,  clever,  and  learned. 

"  He  called  for  Kamnari ;  he  gave  him  Bala  Hissar  ; 1 
Kamnari  stayed  there  for  a  few  days. 

"  A  band  of  ardel 2  came  to  the  castle  to  present  a  pe- 

1  The  fortress  in  Cabul. 

2  Ardel,  a  corruption  of  the  English  orderly. 


148     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

tition  to  Yaqub  :  '  Our  pay  has  been  left  near  your 
father,1  we  are  in  urgent  need  of  it.'  Yaqub  cursed 
them  with  anger.  They  went  to  Kamnari,  the  Infidel. 
The  true  Ghazi,  it  is  with  the  sword  he  fills  his  hunger. 

"  There  was  a  tumult  ;  the  Firangis  were  slaughtered 
in  Cabul ;  the  Emir  did  not  know  of  it. 

"  The  Emir  was  angry  ;  he  called  for  the  soldiers  ;  the 
soldiers  said  :  '  The  massacre  was  done  by  Mohammed 
Jan  Khan.' 

"  Mohammed  Jan  Khan  said  :  '  I  confess  it  ;  I  have 
killed  that  madman  with  my  own  hand.  I  cut  his  throat  ; 
my  knife  grew  blunt.' 

"The  news  came  to  Company.2  He  flew  into  a  passion, 
and  said  :  '  Lat  Rapat,8  go  at  once.' 

"  Rapat  went  through  the  Kurum  valley  towards  Ca- 
bul. May  God  save  us  from  that  reptile  ! 

"  Rapat,  like  a  reptile,  entered  the  heart  of  Yaqub 
Khan  ;  Yaqub  left  Cabul. 

"Mohammed  Yaqub,  to  save  his  life,  went  to  Rapat, 
turning  his  back  to  Islam. 

"  He  made  Yaqub  a  prisoner,  he  sent  him  down  to  the 
plain.  Hindustan  became  his  country,  and  he  forgot  his 
native  place.  Was  he  drunk  with  wine  or  drunk  with 
blang  ?  4  no  one  knows. 

"  But  the  Ghazi  Mohammed  Jan  Khan  collected  the 
Ghazis.  He  went  into  the  open  field  and  pursued  Rapat. 
Rapat  was  lost  and  all  amazed,  and  he  said  to  Mohammed 
Jan  :  '  You  are  my  lord,  I  am  your  slave.' " 

This  Mohammed  Jan,  whom  the  poet  most 
gratuitously,  I  am  glad  to  say,  credits  with  the 

1  Shir  Ali,  the  former  Emir,  overthrown  by  the  English. 

2  John  Company  has  survived  himself  in  Afghanistan. 
8  Lat  Rapat,  Lord  Robert  (Sir  Frederick  Roberts). 

4  Khdnazdda  ghuldm. 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.      149 

murder  of  Cavagnari,  was  a  home-born  servant 
of  Yaqub  Khan,1  and  he  was  with  the  Emir's 
brother,  Ayub,  the  sword  of  the  nation,  as  the 
old  Molla  of  Ghazni,  Mushki  Alam,  was  its 
voice  and  soul. 

"Mohammed  Jan  was  the  leader,  and  so  was  the  Sa- 
hibzada  Mushki  Alam.  Company  had  to  mourn  on  that 
account. 

"  Whoever  has  courage  to  fight  face  to  face,  let  him 
slaughter  that  ruffian.2 

"  Mohammed  Jan  Khan  stretched  out  the  hand  against 
Rapat  ;  he  uncovered  the  locks  of  his  head.8  May  God 
give  him  victory  ! 

"  They  had  many  battles  in  Cabul  —  battles  to  the 
death  —  with  gun  and  sword. 

"  When  he  had  driven  them  from  Cabul,  he  marched 
on  Ghazni ;  he  fought  a  great  battle.  There  were  white 
men,  there  were  black  men,  but  he  made  them  all  blood- 
red. 

"  Ayub  Khan  and  Mohammed  Khan  encamped  both  of 
them  in  the  field  ;  they  kissed  one  another  in  the  battle." 

Mohammed  Jan  fought  to  the  last.  How- 
ever, when  all  was  over  and  Abdulrahman  was 
on  the  throne,  he  announced  his  readiness  to 
submit  and  recognize  the  new  Emir.  But  Ab- 
dulrahman trusts  more  to  the  dead  than  to  the 
living.  Mohammed,  enticed  by  the  unworthy 
son  of  the  Sahib  of  Svat,  Miyan  Gul  Kalan, 
presented  himself  to  the  Emir,  who  had  him 

1  When  he  put  hiinself  into  the  hands  of  Lat  Rapat. 

2  "  That  ruffian  "  is  Company. 

3  A  great  insult  to  a  Hindu. 


150     AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

put  to  death.  But  one  day,  as  the  Emir  was 
riding  through  the  bazaar  of  Jelalabad,  he 
heard  these  lines :  — 

"  The  Ghazi  Mohammed  Jan  Khan,  martyr,  has  passed 
from  this  world.  The  Emir  had  him  put  to  death.  He 
was  taken  by  treason. 

"  Since  Emir  Abdiilrahman  sits  on  the  throne  at  Cabul, 
man  has  lost  his  faith  in  man." 

The  Emir,  stung  to  the  quick,  alighted  from 
his  elephant  and  did  not  disdain  to  go  to  the 
poet  and  apologize  before  him.  I  wonder  what 
sort  of  songs  are  ringing  now  in  the  bazaars  of 
Ghazni  and  Candahar. 

I  shall  conclude  with  a  Persian  song  that  was 
sung  at  Cabul  in  the  time  when  General  Rob- 
erts was  besieged  in  his  camp  at  Shirkhan; 
many  of  its  lines  have  again  an  interest  of  ac- 
tuality. To  understand  them  one  must  remem- 
ber that  Ayub  Khan,  who  is  now  again  to  the 
front,  and  has  just  left  his  prison  at  Teheran  to 
try  his  chance,  is  the  brother  of  the  late  Emir 
Yaqub,  now  a  prisoner  in  India  at  Dehra  Dun ; 
that  little  Musa  Khan  is  the  son  of  Yaqub,  and 
was  proclaimed  Emir  in  his  place  by  Ayub  and 
Mohammed  Jan.  If  Abdulrahman  falls,  Musa 
will  reign  under  the  regency  of  Ayub.  He  has 
been  for  years  the  hope  of  the  Ghazis,  and 
popular  legend  is  already  busy  about  him. 
People  from  the  exile  court  at  Teheran,  who 
come  to  Peshawer,  tell  in  the  bazaar  that  he  is 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     151 

always  repeating  to  his  uncle:  "Uncle,  let  us 
declare  war  on  the  English;  either  they  will 
kill  me  or  I  will  deliver  my  father." 

"  Yaqub  Khan  is  the  man  of  Right, 

Come,  boy,  and  get  the  grapes  ! l 

Musa  Khan  is  the  Emir  of  the  Afghans,  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
Abdul   Rahman  is  the  child  of  the   Russians,2   Come, 

boy  .  .  . 

Cabul  has  become  Hindustan,3  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
Shame  will  be  the  lot  of  our  wives,4  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
But  there  is  still  one  great  battle  to  be  fought,  Come, 

boy  ... 

The  signal  will  come  from  Iran,  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
The  plain  is  all  red  with  flowers,5  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
The  red  roses  are  the  blood  of  martyrs,  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
Double  rupees  fly  about  on  every  side,  Come,  boy  .  .  . 
Herat  belongs  to  Teheran,  Come,  boy  .  .  ."  6 

1  Bullets.     The  boy  is  General  Roberts. 

2  He  is  no  longer  so. 
8  A  British  province. 

*  English  morality  is  supposed  to  be  in  Afghanistan  what 
French  morality  is  supposed  to  be  in  England.  The  rising  of 
1839  is  ascribed  by  native  tradition  to  an  "English  lord" 
having  debauched  the  wife  of  one  of  the  first  Afghan  chiefs, 
Abdullah  Achakzai.  Abdullah  killed  them  with  his  own 
hand,  and  called  his  people  to  revenge.  An  ordre  dujour  de 
moralite  by  General  Roberts  recommends  the  soldiers  to  avoid 
the  indiscretions  committed  during  the  first  occupation  of  Ca- 
bul, in  order  to  remove  the  prejudice  of  past  years,  "  and 
cause  the  British  name  to  be  as  highly  respected  in  Afghanis- 
tan as  it  is  throughout  the  civilized  world."  H.  Hensman, 
The  Afghan  War  of  1879-1880,  p.  68. 

5  Grown  out  of  the  blood  of  martyrs. 

6  This  song  was  published  in  the  Civil  and  Military  Gazette 
of  Lahore  as  an  "  Afghan  Nursery  Rhyme  "  (April  15,  1880). 


152    AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

Is  Herat  again  the  proposed  price  of  Persian 
assistance?  Will  the  next  Afghan  Frontier 
Commission  have  to  draw  the  Perso-Afghan 
line  east  of  Herat? 

I  must  say  here  that  not  all  the  political 
songs  of  the  Afghans  evince  such  feelings  of 
desperate  aversion.  Though  in  the  songs  from 
Afghanistan  and  Yaghistan  there  is  no  love  lost 
on  the  British,  the  songs  from  the  British  dis- 
tricts are  often  in  a  rather  different  spirit. 
Mahmud,  the  author  of  the  scathing  satire  on 
Afzal  Khan,  quoted  above,  is  a  stanch  sup- 
porter of  the  British  Raj,  and  has  written  a 
ballad  on  the  justice  of  the  English:  — 

"  The  Sahibs  have  the  same  law  both  for  the  weak  and 
for  the  strong.  They  practice  to  perfection  justice  and 
equity,  and  make  no  difference  in  a  lawsuit  between  the 
strong  and  the  weak. 

"The  man  of  honor  they  treat  with  honor,  and  they 
shield  not  the  thief,  the  scamp,  the  gamester.  They 
wield  royalty  as  it  becomes  kings,  and  take  tribute  from 
Rajahs  and  Nababs." 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  loyal  poetry  of 
the  Afghans  has  not  the  same  go  and  swing 
as  that  which  is  not  loyal.  They  are  at  their 
best  in  satire,  which,  however,  can  be  loyal 
too.  What  indictment  of  the  dilapidations  in 
the  Commissariat  could  be  shorter  and  sharper 
than  these  lines,  written  after  the  last  Afghan 
War:  — 


AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS.     153 

"  Everybody  has  bought  the  tatoos  l  of  the  Commis- 
sariat ;  for  four  annas  2  the  camels  of  the  Commissariat. 

"  In  fine  dress,  boots  on  their  feet,  a  cane  in  hand, 
strout  about  the  munshis  8  of  the  Commissariat. 

"  Their  fathers  and  grandfathers  did  not  know  what  an 
ass  is,  and  here  they  are  driving  in  tarn  tarn,*  the  rich 
men  of  the  Commissariat." 

It  is  time  to  conclude.  The  reader  may 
already  have  drawn  his  conclusion  for  himself. 
The  songs,  on  the  whole,  confirm,  by  the  Af- 
ghans' own  confession,  the  rather  unfavorable 
estimate  which  was  suggested  by  their  history 
in  the  last  fifty  years.  A  strong  race,  nothing 
like  the  mild  Hindoo,  —  of  a  strong,  but  mixed 
metal;  a  sense  of  honor  that  can  do  without 
truth;  the  half -conventional  virtues  of  the  sav- 
age ;  real  love  ignored ;  the  respect  of  the  weak 
a  weakness.  A  sense  of  religion  that  teaches 
no  charity,  no  self-control,  no  self-improve- 
ment, and  is  best  gratified  in  the  damnation  of 
alien  creeds.  As  to  the  intellectual  side,  no 
high  imagination,  a  limited  range  of  ideas, 
but  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  highest  of  all 
gifts  —  one  which  effete  Europe  has  lost  —  sim- 
plicity and  directness  of  expression.  Politi- 
cally, none  of  the  virtues  that  make  a  nation, 
the  clan  and  the  family  divided  against  them- 
selves, and  the  word  cousin5  meaning  "deadly 

1  Tatoo,  a  pony.  2  Five  pence.  3  Clerks. 

4  A  light  open  carriage.  5  Tarbur. 


154      AFGHAN  LIFE  IN  AFGHAN  SONGS. 

foe;"  the  foreigner  hardly  worse  hated  than 
the  countryman,  and  played  off  against  him. 
The  Englishman  hated  as  an  infidel,  despised 
as  unreliable  and  immoral ; l  in  the  impending 
struggle  for  the  Empire  of  Asia,  no  help  to  be 
hoped  except  for  cash,  no  promise  to  be  trusted 
except  on  bill  of  exchange ;  in  fact,  no  perma- 
nent and  sincere  support  to  be  expected,  be- 
cause the  fields  for  loot  lie  across  the  Indus,  not 
across  the  Oxus.  It  must  be  said,  in  fairness 
to  the  tribes,  that  sixty  years  ago  Christians 
could  travel  safely  through  Afghanistan,  that 
the  present  desperate  feelings  were  created  in 
1838  by  the  wanton  aggression  of  Lord  Auck- 
land, the  Liberal,  and  that,  while  they  were 
slowly  dying  out,2  they  were  revived  ten  years 
ago  by  Lord  Lytton,  the  Conservative,  too  in- 
tensely, perhaps,  for  any  hope  to  be  left  of 
stemming  again  the  current  of  hatred  and  dis- 
trust. It  may  be  added,  however,  as  a  reassur- 
ing symptom  of  a  negative  kind,  that  the  name 
of  Russia  is  not  yet  on  the  lips  of  the  singing 
politicians  of  Afghanistan,  and  that  the  "  Divine 
Figure  from  the  North  "  is  not  yet  looming  on 
the  horizon  of  their  hopes. 

1  This,  of  course,  applies  chiefly  to  the  Afghans  of  Afghan- 
istan and  Yaghistan.      Those  of  the  British  districts  know 
more  of  the  British  and  know  better. 

2  During  the  Mutiny,  the  British  Empire  was  saved  by  the 
neutrality  of  Afghanistan  and  the  active  support  of  the  Af- 
ghan districts. 


RACE  AND  TRADITION. 
I. 

THE  historical  sciences  in  this  century  have 
subsisted  on  a  single  idea,  that  of  race.  When 
one  lives  on  a  single  idea,  one  is  at  last  apt 
to  die  of  it.  The  idea  of  race,  after  having 
revived,  or  rather  created,  modern  history,  has 
for  some  time  begun  to  render  it  sterile  and  to 
pervert  it ;  it  has  had  its  day,  and  ought  to  give 
way  to  a  new  idea,  that  of  tradition. 

The  idea  of  race  was  developed  and  formu- 
lated in  the  first  quarter  of  this  century.  The 
discovery  of  Sanskrit,  and  the  creation  of  com- 
parative grammar  brought  about  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  existence  of  a  well-characterized 
family  of  languages,  the  Aryan  or  Indo-Eu- 
ropean. Its  various  members,  Sanskrit,  Per- 
sian, Greek,  Latin,  Slavonic,  Germanic,  and 
Celtic,  being  essentially  identical  in  their  mate- 
rial elements,  their  form  and  general  structure, 
are  manifestly  one  and  the  same  tongue,  which 
in  the  course  of  time  was  slowly  and  in  diverse 
manners  modified,  according  to  the  various 
places  to  which  it  was  carried.  On  the  other 


156  EACE  AND  TRADITION. 

hand,  it  has  for  a  long  time  been  known  that 
Hebrew,  together  with  Arabic,  Ethiopic,  Syriac, 
and  Phoenician,  forms  a  family  no  less  clearly 
characterized,  the  /Semitic.  This  family,  whose 
circle,  enriched  by  recent  discoveries,  now  in- 
cludes the  Assyrian  and  the  Himyaritic,  is 
absolutely  distinct  from  the  Indo-European 
family.  Apart  from  the  system  of  sounds 
which  is  dissimilar,  the  roots  and  vocabularies 
are  unlike,  the  word-formations  follow  other 
laws,  and  the  arrangement  of  phrases  follows 
a  different  movement.  May  not  these  two 
families  in  a  prehistoric  epoch  have  proceeded 
from  one  and  the  same  type?  The  question  has 
been  before  us  for  half  a  century,  and  is  still 
open  to  hypothesis  rather  than  to  definite  solu- 
tion. Viewed  from  the  historical  side,  and  in 
the  form  in  which  these  families  appear  to  us, 
they  are  strangers  to  one  another,  despite  cer- 
tain vague  indications  that  seem  to  point  to  a 
primitive  common  parentage. 

The  religions  of  the  peoples  that  spoke  these 
languages  present,  at  first  sight,  the  same 
points  of  similarity  and  the  same  differences, 
less  accentuated,  it  is  true  —  possibly  because  of 
our  imperfect  knowledge  of  these  religions,  and 
of  the  more  fleeting  and  less  tangible  character 
of  the  phenomena  in  question.  A  written  or 
spoken  word  is  a  definite  and  palpable  fact, 
about  which  it  is  possible  to  reason,  and  upon 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  157 

which  it  is  possible  to  lean.  This  is  less  so 
in  the  case  of  a  religious  idea,  which  is  a  fact, 
often  dull  and  obscure,  existing  only  in  one's 
conscience,  where  it  is  produced  and  where  it 
most  frequently  takes  refuge.  It  is  difficult  to 
follow  the  thought  of  our  contemporary,  of  our 
every-day  neighbor,  who  speaks  our  language, 
and  lives  under  our  eyes  in  the  same  material 
and  moral  atmosphere.  How  can  we  flatter 
ourselves  that  we  can  discover,  at  a  distance  of 
thirty  centuries,  the  thought  of  peoples  so  dif- 
ferent from  us,  with  nothing  to  guide  us  but 
the  remains  of  mute  monuments,  or  the  uncer- 
tain echo  of  ancient  and  badly-deciphered  texts, 
with  regard  to  which  even  scholars  are  at  odds. 
Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  the  general  wave 
of  speculation  upon  ancient  religions,  it  cer- 
tainly appears,  at  first  sight,  that  the  religions 
called  Aryan  form  one  group,  and  those  called 
Semitic,  another.  In  the  former  there  is  en- 
countered everywhere,  under  the  same  name  in 
some,  and  occasionally  under  different  names, 
one  god  of  heaven,  and  various  goddesses  of  the 
waters;  everywhere  an  exuberant  polytheism, 
all  the  forces  of  nature  deified,  a  rich  dualistic 
mythology  of  storm-gods  fighting  against  de- 
mons :  divinities  of  forests,  of  rivers,  of  moun- 
tains, nymphs,  dryads,  apsaras,  peris,  elfs, 
nixen,  —  a  whole  nation  of  gracious  or  formida- 
ble spirits  hovering  about  us  at  all  times.  On 


158  RACE  AND  TRADITION. 

the  other  hand,  among  the  peoples  speaking 
a  Semitic  language,  everywhere  apparently, 
severe  unity,  everywhere  a  Baal,  a  Moloch,  or  a 
Jehovah,  crushing  nature  with  the  blaze  of  his 
isolated  splendor. 

Upon  these  striking  contrasts  the  theory  of 
races  was  built.  The  Aryan  language  and  reli- 
gion are  the  expression  of  a  race,  —  the  Aryan ; 
the  Semitic  language  and  religion  are  the  ex- 
pression of  another  race,  —  the  Semitic ;  differ- 
ent and  irreconcilable  expressions,  because  they 
are  the  outcome  of  two  distinct  and  irreducible 
forces. 

The  Aryan  and  Semitic  groups  are  the  only 
ones  that  have  been  closely  studied.  They  are 
not  the  only  families  of  languages  and  religions 
in  the  world,  but  the  indications  resulting  from 
a  superficial  examination  of  any  of  them  would 
only  confirm  the  inductions  furnished  by  the 
more  complete  study  of  these  two.  There  is, 
for  instance,  a  Chinese  family  absolutely  inde- 
pendent of  the  other  two.  Now,  ethnologically, 
it  strikes  one  at  once  that  the  physical  type  of 
the  Chinaman  is  absolutely  different  from  that 
of  the  Aryan  or  the  Semite. 

The  theory  of  races  gave  a  strong  stimulus 
to  the  progress  of  science;  for  in  attempting  to 
follow  it  to  its  last  ramifications,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  lay  bare  the  facts  in  all  their  details. 
But  as  often  happens,  with  their  usual  ingrati- 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  159 

tude  towards  the  human  mind,  the  facts  evoked 
by  theory  turned  against  it.  Suddenly  it  was 
seen  —  and  the  suggestion  seemed  almost  a 
stroke  of  genius  —  that  a  man  is  perfectly  capa- 
ble of  acquiring  a  language  which  was  not  his 
father's.  An  Englishman  born  in  Paris  will 
talk  the  slang  of  the  boulevards  quite  as  well  as 
a  Parisian  of  ten  generations ;  the  sons  of  Ger- 
man emigrants  in  the  far  West  do  not  murder 
the  Queen's  English  any  more  than  does  a 
Yankee,  son  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Lan- 
guages disappear,  while  the  people  that  spoke 
them  remain,  —  a  proof  that  they  learned  others. 
The  Gauls  of  Julius  Caesar  after  the  lapse  of 
several  generations  supplied  the  bar  of  Rome 
with  barristers.  Not  only  does  Mr.  Parnell,  an 
Englishman  by  blood,  vindicate  in  English  the 
hereditary  rights  of  the  Celtic  race,  but  so  do 
the  purest  of  the  pure  Irish,  the  O'Briens,  the 
McCarthys,  the  O'Donnells,  the  O'Donoghues. 
Scarcely  150,000  Irish  people  speak  Irish.  The 
Magyarized  Germans  speak  and  write  their 
adopted  language  as  correctly  as  do  the  pure 
Tartars.  The  people  of  the  Aryan  language  are 
not  therefore  necessarily  Aryans ;  they  may  have 
learned  it  from  the  Aryan  conquerors,  and  for- 
gotten their  own. 

The  history  of  Celtic  antiquity  proves  that 
the  Celtic  element  was  superficial,  a  simple, 
dominant  aristocracy,  beneath  which  there  was 


160  BACE  AND  TRADITION. 

the  ancient,  non-Celtic  layer,  vanquished  and 
reduced  to  slavery  by  the  conquerors.1  With- 
out the  guidance  of  history,  the  Celts  of  north- 
ern France,  the  Iberians  of  southern  France 
and  Spain,  the  Getes  and  nameless  tribes  of  the 
lower  Danube  might  have  been  regarded  as 
Latins,  Romans  by  blood,  sons  of  the  Quirites. 
What  Rome  did  in  historical  times,  in  Gaul, 
in  Spain,  in  Roumania,  might,  and  indeed  must 
have  happened  there  and  elsewhere,  in  prehis- 
toric epochs. 

Aryan  peoples  is  therefore  only  a  convenient 
expression  for  people,  of  the  Aryan  language; 
just  as  Semitic  peoples  signifies  simply  people 
of  the  Semitic  language.  Aryan  peoples  signi- 
fies, people  in  whose  language  in  ancient  times 
all  the  roots  were  dissyllabic,  with  whom  "fa- 
ther" was  called  patar  (Zend,  patar ;  Greek 
and  Latin,  pater ;  Sanskrit,  pitar ;  Germanic, 
fadar;  Celtic  [p~]athar);  with  whom  "god"  was 
called  deva  ;  with  whom  the  genitive  denoted  the 
name  of  the  possession,  and  the  objective  pre- 
ceded the  verb.  Semitic  peoples  means  people 
in  whose  language  the  roots  were  monosyllabic, 
with  whom  "father  "  was  called  abu  ;  with  whom 
"god"  was  called  El,  the  genitive  denoting  the 
name  of  the  thing  possessed,  and  the  objective 
following  the  verb.  But  a  man  could  say  patar 
for  "father"  and  still  be  descended  from  an- 

1  See  the  excellent  work  of  M.  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville. 


RACE  AND   TRADITION.  161 

cestors  who  said  abu.  Language  and  race  are 
equivalent  expressions  at  their  origin,  —  but  at 
their  origin  only.  Let  us  suppose  that  two 
couples,  of  the  anthropoids  so  fashionable  at 
present,  produce  two  species  of  humanity  in  two 
islands  separated  by  oceans,  each  one  of  these 
species  making  its  own  language,  and  both  lan- 
guages becoming  diversified  with  time,  according 
as  the  group  that  speaks  it  extends,  multiplies, 
and  branches  out.  So  long  as  no  meeting  takes 
place  between  the  two  groups,  the  difference  of 
language  will  correspond  exactly  to  that  of  race ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  two  groups  meet  each  other, 
as  soon  as  they  mingle  in  whatsoever  degree  or 
manner,  be  it  by  conquest  or  by  alliance,  race 
and  language  cease  to  be  parallel.  One  of  the 
two  languages  may  perish,  without  the  least 
mixture  of  race,  the  least  alteration  in  the  two 
primitive  types;  the  cry  of  one  of  the  two  anthro- 
poids may,  after  centuries,  drown  the  cry  of 
his  rival,  without  a  drop  of  blood  passing  from 
the  veins  of  one  into  those  of  the  other.  Con- 
versely, the  two  races  may  mingle  and  coalesce, 
and  the  primitive  types  yield  to  a  third  and  new 
type,  whereas  the  two  languages  may  continue 
their  independent  course.  In  historical  tunes, 
the  word  that  issues  from  the  lip  is  no  longer 
an  indication  of  the  blood  that  courses  in  the 
veins. 

On  the  other  hand,   in  religion,   the   terms 


162  RACE  AND   TRADITION. 

Aryan  and  Semitic  tend  to  lose  even  the  con- 
ventional sense  that  they  may  retain  in  linguis- 
tics. Since  the  creation  of  Semitic  epigraphy 
and  the  discovery  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh  have 
introduced  us  into  the  intimacy  of  the  Semite 
gods,  we  are  astonished  to  see  how  little  they 
really  differ  at  bottom  from  their  Aryan  neigh- 
bors. The  monotheistic  idea,  that  was  believed 
to  be  the  basis  of  the  Semitic  spirit,  belongs 
really  only  to  the  Jews,  and  in  a  minor  degree 
to  the  Arabs,  half  Judaized  and  half  Christian- 
ized by  Mahomet.  In  ancient  times,  the  reli- 
gions of  the  Semitic  language  show  the  same 
polytheism  as  do  those  of  the  Aryan  language, 
and  the  same  poetical  chaos.  More  than  this, 
in  proportion  as  we  become  better  acquainted 
with  the  religions  of  Greece,  the  Semitic  im- 
print becomes  more  manifest.  In  those  times 
there  was  no  conversion  from  one  religion  to 
another,  because  religion  did  not  consist  of  uni- 
versal and  absolute  dogmas,  but  of  details,  of 
practices,  of  histories.  Keligions  were  national 
and  local,  not  universal.  But,  without  abdica- 
ting one's  own  religion,  one  borrowed  to  an 
indefinite  extent  from  others.  A  religion  was 
added  to  one's  own;  strange  gods  were  wor- 
shiped, because  it  is  well  to  have  friends  in 
every  camp.  The  believer  always  had  a  large 
place  in  his  heart  open  to  unknown  gods ;  the 
jealous  god  did  not  yet  exist. 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  163 

The  Greeks,  an  artistic  and  inquiring  peo- 
ple, borrowed  largely  from  all  sides.  Adonis, 
for  whom  the  Athenian  ladies  wept,  came  from 
Syria.  Later,  Cybele  and  Attys  with  their  tim- 
brels came  from  Phrygia,  and  Serapis  came  from 
Egypt  to  give  advice  and  to  cure.  In  an  earlier 
period,  the  Phoanicians,  those  great  draymen  of 
the  ancient  world,  brought  to  the  Greek  Pan- 
theon a  mass  of  gods  and  goddesses  and  myths 
that  soon  lost  the  stamp  of  their  origin.  With- 
out going  to  the  length  of  such  "semitizing" 
scholars  as  Ernest  Curtius,  who  do  not  hesitate 
to  make  the  entire  Greek  mythology  merely  a 
chapter  of  the  Phrenician,  it  is  difficult,  in  spite 
of  the  dangers  of  method  that  these  new  views 
already  display,  to  close  one's  eyes  to  the  daily 
increasing  evidence.  Though  Greece  was  not 
obliged  to  wait  for  the  Phoenicians  in  order  to 
have  a  goddess  of  love,  it  is  none  the  less  true 
that  it  was  in  the  wake  of  a  Phoenician  bark  that 
Anadyomene  of  Cythera  rose  from  the  foam. 
Heracles  is  by  name  and  origin  an  Aryan  god, 
who  easily  recognized  his  brothers  in  the  Vedas ; 
nevertheless,  in  the  course  of  his  long  history 
and  wanderings,  he  has  been  clothed  more  than 
once  in  the  garb  of  a  Syrian  god.  In  his  apo- 
theosis the  hand  that  applies  the  torch  to  the 
stake  is  by  no  means  the  hand  of  the  Devas,  or 
of  the  Indian  Vritras,  struggling  in  the  storm- 
cloud  ;  it  is  the  hand  of  the  Zidonian  Melkarth, 


164  EACE  AND  TRADITION. 

—  of  the  sun,  dying  at  the  end  of  his  annual 
course,  to  reappear  with  new  life. 

Thus  we  see  the  barriers  separating  the  two 
Pantheons  diminish  day  by  day,  and  it  might 
appear  for  a  moment  that  the  differences  sepa- 
rating them  are  not  such  as  imply  two  essen- 
tially different  forces.  There  is  no  fundamental 
difference,  but  only  one  of  form.  From  the  pre- 
sent position,  the  distinguishing  characteristics 
of  these  two  families  seem  to  be  the  predomi- 
nance of  storm-myths  in  the  Aryan  mythology 
and  of  season-myths  in  the  Semitic.  Both  are 
developed  under  the  idea  of  the  struggle  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  and  under  a  visible  form; 
but  the  one  took  as  a  starting-point,  and  for  the 
mise  en  scene,  the  struggle  of  gods  and  demons, 
quarreling  over  the  waters,  and  the  light  in  the 
storm;  the  other,  the  struggle  of  spring  and 
winter,  of  life  and  death  in  nature.  One  was 
developed  about  a  more  dramatic  incident,  giv- 
ing birth  to  a  poetical  situation;  the  other 
portrays  a  regular  law,  which  makes  the  strug- 
gle slower  and  more  solemn.  But  each  has 
retained  the  traces  of  the  favorite  prejudices  of 
the  other,  the  Aryan  of  the  season-myths,  the 
Semitic  of  the  storm-myths.  There  is  nothing 
there  which  reveals,  at  the  origin,  irreducible 
forms  of  thought,  nothing  of  that  which  is  gen- 
erally understood  by  the  fatal  instinct  of  race. 

Therefore  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of 


RACE  AND   TRADITION.  165 

the  two  classes  of  facts,  upon  which  the  exist- 
ence of  two  races,  Aryan  and  Semitic,  has  been 
based,  justifies  the  hypothesis  maintained.  The 
facts  of  the  second  order,  the  religious,  are  in- 
sufficient to  establish  two  series  of  this  kind, 
and  have  no  ethnographical  significance.  They 
might  have  had,  in  a  time  that  lies  beyond  the 
horizon  of  history;  they  no  longer  have,  in  the 
historical  period.  The  starting-point  of  human- 
ity lies  so  far  off,  and  history,  in  trying  to  go 
back  to  it,  comes  to  a  standstill  so  quickly, 
that  in  no  civilization,  least  of  all  in  the  Aryo- 
Semitic,  does  it  touch  upon  the  part  taken  by 
race.  It  reaches  only  to  the  results  of  the  ac- 
tion of  ten  races,  superimposed  and  amalgama- 
ted, and  which  learned  enough  from  each  other, 
and  forgot  enough,  to  present  the  appearance  of 
an  irreducible  unity  of  thought.  Wherever  we 
imagine  that  we  see  the  factor  of  race,  there  is 
simply  tradition,  transmitted  and  modified  from 
one  race  to  another. 


n. 

M.  Ernest  Renan,  in  a  lecture  which  has 
become  famous,1  demonstrated  this  opposition 
of  tradition  to  race  by  an  example  which  is 

1  Le  Judaisme  comme  race  et  comme  religion.  Lecture  de- 
livered to  the  Cercle  St.  Simon,  in  January,  1883.  Paris,  Cal- 
mami  Levy. 


166  RACE  AND  TRADITION. 

more  forcible  than  mere  arguments.  The  ex- 
ample was  all  the  more  conclusive  inasmuch  as 
it  is  the  one  ordinarily  cited  as  the  typical  illus- 
tration of  the  triumph  of  race,  —  the  example  of 
Judaism.  The  proposition  maintained,  or  rather 
the  facts  set  forth,  by  the  illustrious  Orientalist 
are  as  follows :  — 

Judaism  is  generally  considered  a  fact  of 
race,  and  one  speaks  of  the  Jewish  race  as  one 
speaks  of  the  Jewish  religion.  One  imagines 
that  a  Jew  of  1891  is  a  descendant  of  a  Jew 
of  David's  time;  that  the  entire  genealogy  of 
a  Jewish  family,  whether  the  starting-point  be 
Paris,  London,  Vienna,  Warsaw,  would,  if 
traced  back  far  enough,  lead  us  to  some  village 
of  Palestine  after  having  made  the  circuit  of 
the  world.  Religion  and  race  are  supposed  to 
be  mutual  supports  to  such  an  extent  that  at 
the  present  time  Judaism  is  still  represented 
by  a  physical  type,  and  its  adherents  recognized 
by  their  countenance.  Such  at  least  is  the  pop- 
ular theory. 

History  proves  that  this  is  not  the  case.  Be- 
neath the  actual  religious  unity  of  what  is  called 
the  Jewish  race,  there  is  hidden  an  infinite  di- 
versity of  races.  It  is  true  that  there  was  a 
time  when  the  racial  type  was  definitely  fixed 
by  persecution,  imprisonment  in  the  Ghetto, 
absolute  sequestration  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  But,  up  to  that  time,  the  blood  of 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  167 

Jewish  society  was  being  constantly  renewed 
by  a  process  that  had  gone  on  for  centuries. 
M.  Renan  does  not  go  back  to  the  historical 
origin  of  this  society,  but  takes  up  the  thread 
at  the  time  when  Judaism,  in  the  historical 
sense  of  the  word,  was  constituted,  when  the 
national  religion  had  become  a  universal  one, 
the  time  of  Isaiah  and  the  prophets.  In  going 
back  beyond  this  time,  it  would  not  be  difficult 
to  show  that  many  foreign  elements  had  entered 
into  the  blood  of  the  primitive  tribe  of  the  Beni- 
Israel.  At  the  flight  from  Egypt,  they  dragged 
with  them  "a  mixed  multitude,"  and  in  Pales- 
tine they  found  established  a  numerous  popula- 
tion, only  a  part  of  which  was  exterminated  in 
the  conquest.  In  this  double  mixture,  the  first 
of  which  at  least  was  very  close,  the  primitive 
blood  must  have  been  transformed  and  renewed. 
Nevertheless,  during  centuries  after  the  conquest 
of  Palestine,  the  religion  of  the  Jews  remains 
purely  national  and  local,  as  are  all  the  reli- 
gions of  the  time.  They  worship  a  God  who 
belongs  only  to  them,  but  who  is  not  the  one 
God.  Religion  has  no  occasion  to  leave  the 
frontiers  of  the  Jewish  country,  nor  to  spread 
among  foreign  races.  The  scene  changes  with  the 
prophets.  They  rise,  about  the  eighth  century 
before  the  Christian  era,  to  proclaim  a  new  doc- 
trine, a  unique  God,  to  the  world,  and  a  law 
of  justice  for  all  men.  They  create  universal 


168  RACE  AND  TRADITION. 

religion,  —  a  religion  without  analogy  up  to  that 
time,  and  whose  dogmas  and  orders  could  and 
must  tind  an  echo  in  every  human  heart,  what- 
ever the  blood  that  courses  through  it.  The 
disdain  for  sacrifices  and  cults,  for  vain  forms 
and  lifeless  images;  the  direct  communion  of 
man  with  God  in  reason  and  in  right;  the  com- 
munion of  man  with  man  in  justice  and  charity ; 
an  ideal  resplendent  with  terrestrial  happiness 
that  awaited  humanity  at  the  end  of  its  career, 
—  all  these  strange  novelties,  still  new  to-day 
despite  all  our  philosophy,  burst  for  the  first 
time  upon  the  world  in  the  lightning  words  of 
the  prophets.  From  that  day,  religion  was  sep- 
arated from  race;  from  that  day,  too,  there 
begins  a  new  order  of  phenomena  that  had 
never  as  yet  been  produced,  —  the  phenomena 
of  conversion. 

Upon  the  return  from  the  Babylonian  exile, 
numerous  foreign  elements  mingle  with  the  old 
Jewish  substratum,  —  Babylonian  elements  that 
came  from  Chaldea  with  the  exiles,  Palestin- 
ian non-Jewish  elements  that  commingled  with 
them.  But  grafting  on  a  much  larger  scale 
took  place  during  the  Graco -Roman  period. 
It  is  well  known  from  authentic  sources  that  a 
large  part  of  the  Greek  population  of  Antioch 
was  converted  to  Judaism.  The  Jewish  colony 
of  Alexandria,  one  of  the  most  considerable  of 
the  time,  was  essentially  of  Hellenic  blood.  At 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  169 

Rome,  the  movement  of  conversion  attracts  the 
attention  of  statesmen,  who  abandon  the  attempt 
to  stop  it,  and  leave  the  matter  to  the  satirists. 
Judaism  attempted  what  Christianity  accom- 
plished. "The  result  is,  that  from  this  time," 
as  M.  Renari  says,  "the  word  '  Judaism '  pos- 
sesses no  special  ethnographical  significance. 
Conformably  to  the  prediction  of  the  prophets, 
Judaism  became  universal.  Every  one  was 
admitted." 

The  triumph  of  Christianity  and  the  Tal- 
mudic  reaction  which  follows  arrest  this  move- 
ment, without,  however,  suppressing  it.  It 
maintains  its  force  in  the  Orient  and  in  west- 
ern Europe  in  the  first  part  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  founding  of  Islam  had  been  preceded,  and 
in  part  prepared,  by  the  conversion  of  a  portion 
of  Arabia  to  Judaism.  There  was  a  Jewish 
kingdom  of  Abyssinia,  whose  remains  are  still 
found  in  the  Falashas  of  our  days.  In  Russia, 
in  the  eighth  century  of  our  era,  a  whole  Tartar 
nation,  the  Khozars,  following  the  example  of 
their  king,  embraced  Judaism.  Closer  to  us,  on 
our  own  soil,  in  the  fifth  century,  Gregory  of 
Tours,  in  his  combat  against  the  Jews,  sees  in 
them  only  heretics, — not  foreigners;  the  Jews 
of  Gaul  are  to  him  merely  Gauls  professing 
Judaism. 

There  follows  from  this  "that  there  is  in  the 
whole  of  the  Jewish  population,  such  as  it  exists 


170  KACE  AND  TRADITION. 

in  our  day,  a  considerable  portion  of  foreign 
blood,  very  much  as  among  all  other  races,  and 
that  this  race  is  far  from  being  the  ideal  of  a 
pure  ethnos,  as  it  is  usually  considered  to  be 
because  of  its  opposition  to  mixed  marriages." 
The  permanence  of  the  Jewish  type,  or,  to  speak 
more  exactly,  of  the  Jewish  types,  —  for  there 
are  several,  —  is  a  secondary,  not  a  primary 
fact.  Given  a  human  mass  taken  at  hazard, 
unexpectedly  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  reproducing  itself,  it  will  be  found 
that  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time  "the  types  will 
be  reduced,  massed  in  some  degree,  concen- 
trated into  a  certain  number  of  types,  that  by 
prevailing  over  others  will  persist  and  become 
fixed  in  an  immutable  form."  It  is  the  Ghetto 
that  detached  and  fixed  the  Jewish  types.  It 
is  the  Ghetto,  too,  that  produced  that  unity 
of  habits  and  customs  which  we  are  wont  to 
regard  as  the  result  of  race,  and  which  in  real- 
ity is  the  mark  of  a  religious  minority  concen- 
trated and  thrown  back  upon  its  own  resources. 
"There  is  a  psychology  of  religious  minorities, 
independent  of  race." 

The  deductions  of  M.  Kenan's  argument  are 
various  and  of  different  kinds,  some  possessing 
present  interest ; l  others  of  a  general  and  uni- 
versal bearing,  already  previously  pointed  out 

1  They  are  still  interesting,  since  Anti-Semitism  is  trium- 
phant in  the  entire  west  of  Europe  (1891). 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  Ill 

by  M.  Kenan  in  his  admirable  lecture  upon  the 
formation  of  the  French  nationality. 

From  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine,  this  strange 
crusade  of  Anti-Semitism,  that  recently  aston- 
ished Europe  like  an  awakening  from  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  has  endeavored  to  justify  itself  by 
history.  Political  hatreds  and  commercial 
rivalries,  in  combination  with  the  laments  of 
inquisitors,  have  been  clothed  with  scientific 
formulas,  and  shopkeepers'  quarrels  have  come 
to  be  regarded  as  the  symptom  of  the  supposed 
eternal  collision  between  two  races,  —  between 
two  worlds,  the  Aryan  and  the  Semitic.  The 
rhetorical  duel  between  court-preacher  Stoecker 
and  deputy  Lasker J  is  interpreted  as  the  old  duel 
of  Scipio  and  Hannibal,  of  Adrian  and  Bar- 
Kochba,  of  the  Crusaders  and  Saladin.  Ger- 
many is  the  ensign  of  the  Aryan  race,  raised 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  rehabilitated 
Semitic  race. 

"Historical  spirit"  is  a  beautiful  thing,  but 
it  is  easier  to  abuse  the  term  than  to  apply  it 
properly.  It  takes  a  strange  ignorance  of  facts, 
and  a  singular  docility  in  regard  to  words,  to 
make  of  the  Jew  the  type  of  the  Semite.  Ju- 
daism is  born  in  a  Semitic  medium,  but  it  is 
the  most  absolute  reaction  imaginable  against 
the  religion,  the  manners,  the  traditions  that 
prevailed  in  that  medium ;  it  is  the  living  pro- 
1  1883. 


172  RACE  AND  TRADITION. 

test  of  broad  humanity  against  the  tribal  idea. 
Here  is  revealed  the  social  danger  contained  in 
this  word  "  race,"  when  it  is  snatched  from  the 
hands  of  science  by  the  would-be  men  of  affairs, 
and  thrown  out  to  the  masses.  Through  it 
every  struggle  takes  on  a  character  of  bitter 
and  undying  hatred,  because  the  combatants 
are  persuaded  that  there  exists  between  them, 
not  a  momentary  and  accidental  hostility,  but 
an  irretrievable  and  fatal  one.  War  between 
these  parties  is  supposed  to  be  inevitable  and 
eternal,  since  the  cause  is  always  present,  and 
extends  from  the  remote  past  to  the  distant  fu- 
ture. Two  organisms,  two  instincts,  two  irrec- 
oncilable souls,  are  supposed  to  be  engaged  in 
the  struggle ;  not  two  men,  but  two  vertebrates 
of  a  different  order.  Rapid  or  gradual  exter- 
mination can  alone  put  an  end  to  the  struggle. 
In  the  same  way,  during  the  War  of  Secession, 
the  scholars  of  the  South  published  "manuals 
of  anthropology"  in  which  the  monkey  occupied 
the  intermediate  place  between  the  negro  and 
man. 

What  is  still  stranger  is  that,  in  the  bloody 
battle  of  words  of  the  century,  the  scientific 
subdivision  of  races  and  racial  instincts  in- 
volves a  subdivision  of  the  hatreds  and  fatali- 
ties of  war  and  destruction.  The  movement  in 
Germany  would  prompt  the  Aryans  to  make  an 
assault  upon  the  Semitic  world,  but  the  Aryans 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  173 

are  subdivided  into  secondary  races  which  must 
in  turn  hate,  fight,  and  exterminate  each  other 
by  reason  of  the  secondary  hostility  of  their 
instincts,  — the  Germanic  race  against  the  Sla- 
vonic, the  Germanic  against  the  Latin.  Hu- 
manity is  merely  a  cruel  and  regular  network 
of  hatreds  and  sub-hatreds,  interwoven  with  the 
hierarchy  of  races,  and  entangled  by  science 
and  by  war. 

If  the  form  of  human  thought  in  historical 
times  was  really  an  unchangeable  expression  of 
the  first  race,  a  permanent  state  of  war,  with 
no  other  outcome  than  extermination,  would  be 
the  inevitable  lot  of  humanity.  Happily  this  is 
not  the  case,  and  among  the  infinite  causes  of 
the  struggles  that  engage  civilized  nations,  — 
struggles  for  outlets  and  for  means  of  subsist- 
ence, clashings  of  pride,  metaphysical  quarrels, 
—  the  vague  and  obscure  antipathies  of  race 
occupy  the  very  lowest  place.  What  is  taken 
for  them  is  merely  the  clash  of  colliding  tradi- 
tions. The  clash  of  traditions,  however  ancient 
and  deeply  rooted,  cannot  produce  a  state  of 
ceaseless  warfare,  since  two  opposing  traditions, 
when  brought  into  contact,  end  either  by  an 
adaptation  of  the  one  to  the  other,  if  they  be 
equally  strong  and  sound,  or  by  the  conver- 
sion of  the  one  into  the  other.  The  law  of  the 
equilibrium  of  temperature  reigns  in  the  moral 
as  well  as  in  the  physical  world.  The  struggle 


174  RACE  AND  TRADITION. 

of  races  can  end  only  upon  the  battlefield  and 
by  extermination.  The  struggle  of  traditions, 
though  carried  to  the  battlefield,  can  find  its 
definite  solution  only  in  the  depths  of  thought 
and  conscience.  The  extinction  of  a  tradition 
does  not  involve  the  extinction  of  the  race  that 
possessed  it,  but  its  moral  reconstruction,  and 
generally  the  rejuvenation  of  its  forces  and  of 
its  aims. 

It  is  not  just  to  estimate  a  scientific  theory 
according  to  the  amount  of  good  or  bad  that 
it  does  in  the  world.  Truth,  in  the  hands  of 
the  unintelligent  or  the  shrewd,  can  do  as  much 
harm  as  error.  In  the  domain  of  history,  how- 
ever, when  a  theory  that  has  not  been  invented 
with  a  secondary  thought  of  edification  or  be- 
nevolence, but  which  is  the  natural  and  spon- 
taneous product  of  disinterested  research,  points 
the  way  to  progress,  there  is  a  strong  probabil- 
ity of  its  being  the  truth.  The  movement  of 
the  humanity  of  to-day  is  merely  the  result  of 
accumulated  impulses,  movements  condensed 
from  centuries  of  history  and  prehistoric  times. 
The  fusion  of  races  involved  in  the  unity  of 
tradition  is  due  to  a  proper  instinct  regarding 
the  past,  and  is  at  the  same  time  a  prognostica- 
tion of  the  future. 

In  this  light  the  words  uttered  in  the  Cercle 
Saint  Simon  are  profoundly  true.  Some  of 
these  words  may  be  the  means  of  deliverance 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  175 

for  millions  of  oppressed,  and,  by  the  same 
stroke,  the  beginning  of  a  new  career  for  their 
oppressors.  In  the  Anti-Semitic  movement  of 
Russia,  the  vague  idea  of  an  opposition  of  race 
has  brutalized  the  antipathies  due  to  purely 
economic,  political,  and  social  causes.  The  mass 
of  Russian  Jews  have  a  Russian  foundation 
(Slav  and  Tartar).  Russia  has  in  this  case 
to  deal,  not  with  a  race  but  with  a  tradition. 
She  can  neutralize  the  dangers  of  the  situation 
by  suppressing  the  artificial  causes  that  created 
these  dangers,  such  as  isolation,  confinement, 
placing  beyond  the  pale  of  justice.  And  she 
will  do  well  to  assimilate  the  good  and  the  pow- 
erful in  this  tradition.  Let  this  new  idea  once 
enter  into  her  policy,  and  one  of  her  plagues 
and  stigmas  will  soon  disappear. 

In  the  constitution  of  modern  nations,  race 
is,  in  the  same  way,  the  secondary  and  inferior 
element.  It  may  be  remembered  with  what 
eloquence  M.  Renan  showed  how  France  formed 
the  indissoluble  alloy  of  her  nationality  by  the 
fusion  of  her  heterogeneous  elements,  melted  in 
the  fire  of  the  soul,  fanned  by  the  wind  of  his- 
tory. A  nationality  is  all  the  more  solid  the 
more  elements  that  are  mixed  with  it,  each 
bringing  to  the  crucible  the  quality  of  its  metal ; 
one  resistance,  another  brilliancy :  — 

"  Tres  igiiis  torti  radios,  tres  alitis  austri 
Miscebant  operi,  flammisque  sequacibus  iras." 


176  RACE  AND  TRADITION. 

Of  other  European  nationalities,  one  of  the 
strongest,  presenting  the  most  perfect  cohesion 
with  the  greatest  variety  of  aptitudes,  is  certainly 
the  English  people.  This  is  what  the  author  of 
"Robinson  Crusoe"  wrote  two  centuries  ago,  in 
answer  to  the  attacks  of  the  true-born  English- 
man against  the  invasion  of  the  Dutch  element 
that  followed  in  the  wake  of  William  of  Orange : 

"  These  are  the  heroes  that  despise  the  Dutch, 
And  rail  at  new-come  foreigners  so  much  ; 
Forgetting  that  themselves  are  all  derived 
From  the  most  scoundrel  race  that  ever  lived  ; 
A  horrid  crowd  of  rambling  thieves  and  drones 
Who  ransacked  kingdoms,  and  dispeopled  towns  ; 
The  Pict,  and  painted  Briton,  treach'rous  Scot, 
By  hunger,  theft,  and  rapine,  hither  brought ; 
Norwegian  pirates,  buccaneering  Danes, 
Whose  red-haired  offspring  everywhere  remains  ; 
Who  join'd  with  Norman  French,  compound  the  breed 
From  whence  your  true-born  Englishman  proceed."  a 

The  satirist's  compliments  aside,  there  remains 
a  basis  of  historical  truth  that  explains  the 
greatness  of  England.  A  race  manifests  its 
proper  genius,  in  all  its  brilliance  and  all  its 
soundness,  when  there  is  mingled  with  it  a 
spark  of  foreign  genius.  The  misfortune  of 
Germany  —  what  constitutes  her  momentary 
strength,  and  will  bring  about  her  lasting  weak- 
ness in  the  future  —  is,  that  the  element  of 
race  is  better  preserved  there  than  elsewhere. 

1  The  True-Born  Englishman,  De  Foe. 


RACE  AND  TRADITION.  177 

Hence,  narrowness  of  spirit,  lack  of  proportion 
in  her  intelligence,  of  justice  in  her  heart.  She 
lacked  that  fruitful  struggle  of  contrary  forces 
that  limit  their  excesses  by  complementing  their 
energies,  and  that,  in  recognizing  their  mutual 
rights,  enlarge  the  innate  narrowness  of  man, 
with  the  result  of  producing  something  that  has 
the  extent  and  variety  of  Nature  herself.  Ger- 
many has  remained,  and  still  remains,  a  thing 
strangely  powerful  and  painfully  incomplete. 


ERNEST  RENAN. 

IN  regard  to  every  great  mind  that  leaves  a 
deep  impress  on  its  age,  the  curiosity  of  contem- 
poraries asks  two  questions.  On  the  one  hand 
it  inquires,  "How  was  this  mind  formed,  and 
what  was  the  genesis  of  the  thought  which  it 
expressed?"  On  the  other  hand  it  asks, 
"  What  lasting  and  fruitful  element  has  it  con- 
tributed to  its  generation  and  those  which  come 
after?"  This  double  problem  has  a  fascinating 
interest  in  this  particular  instance  on  account 
of  the  personality  of  the  man,  one  of  the  most 
attractive  and  complicated  characters  which  have 
appeared  since  Montaigne,  and  because  of  the 
extreme  importance  of  the  questions  to  which 
he  devoted  his  life.  Endowed  with  the  most 
manifold  gifts,  —  a  savant,  a  philosopher,  a 
poet,  —  no  one  exerted  a  prof ounder  influence 
upon  the  doctrine,  the  thought,  and  the  imagi- 
nation of  his  countrymen;  no  one,  perhaps,  has 
been  so  insufficiently  comprehended  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  He  has  been  stupidly  criti- 
cised and  stupidly  praised.  Men  have  been 
arrested  by  the  apparent  contradictions  in  his 
thought,  in  which  there  seemed  to  triumph  in 


ERNEST  REN  AN.  179 

turn  the  most  elevated  idealism  and  the  most 
absolute  skepticism;  by  this  stoical  life  which 
wrapped  itself  more  than  once  in  the  formulas 
of  Epicurus ;  by  this  science  which  seemed  al- 
ways preoccupied  by  a  fear  that  its  affirmation 
or  its  negation  might  be  taken  too  seriously. 
He  was  denounced  as  one  of  the  moral  dissol- 
vents of  the  century,  and  yet  from  his  lips  there 
fell  some  of  the  highest  and  gravest  words  to 
which  our  generation  has  listened.  By  a  su- 
preme contradiction,  those  who  came  near  to 
M.  Renan,  those  especially  who  studied  him 
with  some  care,  have  rendered  their  testimony 
to  the  unparalleled  sincerity  of  his  thought, 
which  always  was  expressed  as  it  appeared  to 
himself,  and  was  never  sacrificed  either  to  the 
desire  of  popularity,  or  to  fear  of  the  powers 
that  are,  or  of  public  opinion,  or  even,  great 
artist  though  he  was,  to  the  search  for  artistic 
effect.  In  order  to  solve  the  enigma  of  this 
manifold  soul,  we  need  only  follow  it  in  its  his- 
tory and  in  its  work.  The  task  is  easy:  the 
work  is  before  us,  and  the  essential  element  of 
this  history,  the  critical  period  which  formed 
it,  M.  Kenan  himself  has  described  to  us  in 
the  clearest  and  frankest  of  Confessions.1  I 

1  Souvenirs  d'Enfance  et  de  Jeunesse  (Paris,  1880),  to  which 
should  be  added  the  pages,  of  which  only  a  few  copies  were 
printed,  devoted  to  the  memory  of  his  sister,  Henriette  Renan, 
"  a  Souvenir  for  those  who  knew  her : "  Paris,  September, 
1862.  These  pages,  the  most  touching  that  ever  came  from 
the  heart  of  the  writer,  will  doubtless  soon  be  made  public. 


180  ERNEST  RENAN. 

shall  be  excused  for  devoting  myself  mainly  to 
the  Renan  of  the  early  years ;  one  may  say  that 
after  twenty-five  M.  Renan  no  longer  changed, 
and  that  all  the  qualities,  all  the  essential  ideas, 
all  the  general  views,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  special  views  which  made  him  original  and 
powerful,  are  shown  in  the  first  pages  which  he 
wrote  on  leaving  the  seminary,  with  all  the  con- 
sciousness and  all  the  clearness  that  they  were 
to  have  later  on. 

I. 

Brittany  is  the  country  of  fairies.  It  is  the 
corner  of  France  which  has  preserved  the  an- 
cient faith  in  its  greatest  purity,  not  only  the 
Christian  faith,  but  also  the  old  popular  reli- 
gion older  than  the  church,  the  roots  of  which 
go  deep  down  into  the  period  of  mythology  and 
paganism.  Its  true  temples  are  the  country 
chapels,  with  their  local  saints  and  their  bizarre 
images  and  their  legends,  which  are  more  Dru- 
idical  than  Christian,  and  are  much  more 
closely  related  to  the  Richis  and  the  Devatas  of 
India  than  to  the  canonized  saints  of  the  estab- 
lished church. 

Here  M.  Renan  was  born  of  a  family  of  sail- 
ors. These  people,  cradled  in  the  eddies  of  a 
terrible  sea  that  rarely  smiles  and  is  always 
solemn,  and  in  the  mysteries  of  their  super- 
stitions and  legends,  are  more  grave,  more  spir- 


EENEST  RENAN.  181 

itual,  and  more  profoundly  thoughtful  than  any 
other  people  of  France.  Renan  was  still  a 
child  when  his  father  perished  at  sea.  He  was 
reared  by  his  mother,  who  was  of  Gascon  de- 
scent; she  added  to  the  Breton  faith  a  fund  of 
gayety,  verve,  and  gentle  irony  that  were  for- 
eign to  Brittany.  She  gave  her  son  his  pro- 
found and  sincere  faith  in  the  teachings  of  the 
church  and  also  his  imaginative  faith,  amused 
and  semi-skeptical,  in  the  creations  of  the  popu- 
lar religion.  She  was  a  living  folk-lore ;  "  she 
loved  these  faiths  as  a  Breton  and  smiled  at 
them  as  a  Gascon."  To  his  education  in  this 
naive  and  earnest  environment,  so  different  from 
that  of  our  great  cultivated  and  commonplace 
cities,  Renan  attributed  later  his  historical  fac- 
ulty, and  his  gift  of  reviving  spiritual  conditions 
different  from  those  of  our  own  day.  He  had 
there  acquired  "a  kind  of  habit  of  seeing  under- 
ground, and  of  hearing  noises  beyond  the  reach 
of  other  ears." 

His  first  masters,  the  good  priests  of  Treguier, 
that  old  city  of  convents,  chapels,  and  churches, 
were  such  models  of  tranquil  faith  and  spotless 
virtue  as  the  provincial  clergy  of  France  often 
exhibit.  By  their  lessons  and  by  their  example 
they  taught  him  that  Christianity  sums  up 
every  ideal,  and  that  the  spiritual  life  is  the 
only  noble  life.  When,  in  1838,  led  by  the  re- 
port of  Kenan's  success  as  a  scholar  in  the 


182  ERNEST  KENAN. 

college  of  Treguier,  M.  Dupanloup,  in  search  of 
brilliant  recruits  for  the  church,  called  him  to 
the  seminary  of  Saint  Nicolas  du  Chardonneret, 
he  carried  there  a  perfect  docility  and  an  entire 
faith,  thus  far  untouched  by  any  disturbance 
from  within  or  from  without.  Reared  in  a 
confined  atmosphere,  where  no  breath  of  the 
profane  world  came,  he  had  had  none  of  those 
encounters  with  the  modern  spirit  which  suffice 
with  so  many  other  Frenchmen  to  shake  and 
destroy  their  traditional  faith,  while  they  have 
no  part  in  the  work  of  their  own  conversion. 
We  do  not  divest  ourselves  of  our  faith;  it  is 
torn  from  us  by  the  wind  which  blows  upon  the 
age,  and  those  who  lose  their  beliefs  through 
the  labor  of  their  own  minds  only  are  as  rare 
as  those  who  form  their  own  beliefs.  The  few 
men  who  are  the  real  makers  of  their  own  in- 
credulity have  generally  been  stranded  on  the 
arid  shores  of  reasoning;  it  is  upon  the  anti- 
nomy between  the  teachings  of  revelation  and 
those  of  science  that  their  faith  makes  ship- 
wreck, or  upon  the  logical  impossibilities  which 
appear  on  every  side  as  soon  as  faith  seeks  to 
justify  itself.  The  spiritual  crisis  which  threw 
M.  Renan  out  of  the  church  was  quite  different. 
It  was  entirely  of  a  philological  and  critical 
order;  it  was  the  sense  and  the  date  of  some 
lines  of  Hebrew  which  fixed  his  destiny.  It 
was  the  crisis  of  Robert  Elsmere  forty  years 


ERNEST  EENAN.  183 

before  "Robert  Elsmere."  An  excellent  He- 
braist of  St.  Sulpice,  the  Abbe  Le  Hir,  a  man 
of  great  learning  and  acquainted  with  the  criti- 
cal labors  of  the  Germans,  but  who  had  a  pro- 
found faith  not  to  be  in  any  way  uprooted, 
which  allowed  him  to  dismiss  without  trouble 
and  by  an  a  priori  process  every  conclusion  of 
science  which  conflicted  with  Orthodoxy,  had 
initiated  the  young  seminarist  into  the  study  of 
Hebrew  and  of  German  exegesis.  This  was 
the  cause  of  the  shipwreck.  Renan  had  never 
been  arrested  by  an  objection  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Trinity  and  of  the  Incarnation  viewed  in 
themselves;  he  had  accepted  every  dogma  on 
faith  in  the  revealed  texts.  But  now  the  philo- 
logical study  of  these  very  texts  showed  him 
that  they  cannot  be  revealed,  since  they  swarm 
with  contradictions  and  have  all  the  character- 
istics of  ordinary  human  literature.  The  Book 
of  Daniel  is  an  apocryphal  document  belonging 
to  the  time  of  the  Maccabees:  the  infallible 
church  is  mistaken,  then,  when  it  makes  this  the 
work  of  a  prophet  in  the  time  of  Nebuchadrezzar 
and  exults  in  the  realized  prophecies  which  it 
contains.  The  history  of  Christ  rests  upon  the 
Gospels;  the  Synoptics  contradict  the  Fourth 
Gospel  and  contradict  each  other;  there  is  no 
reconciliation  possible,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
accept  them  all  together.  The  New  Testament 
founds  its  dogmas  upon  citations  from  the  Old 


184  ERNEST  REN  AN. 

Testament:  these  quotations  are  inaccurate,  or 
have  not  the  sense  which  was  given  them,  so 
that  the  two  Testaments  cannot  be  equally  in- 
spired. The  skepticism  which  rests  entirely 
upon  the  exercise  of  the  logical  faculties  always 
appears  to  be  a  kind  of  begging  the  question  in 
the  eyes  of  the  religious  critic,  and  has  no  con- 
vincing effect  upon  him:  the  claims  and  the 
merits  of  faith  are  precisely  that  it  rises  above 
reason,  and  so  all  the  arrows  darted  by  abstract 
reason  are  necessarily  telum  imbelle  sine  ictu. 
But  it  is  not  the  same  with  doubts  as  to  facts, 
with  historic  doubts;  for  if  the  word  which 
establishes  the  faith  is  a  word  human,  change- 
able, contradictory,  and  born  out  of  historical 
circumstances,  the  dogma  and  the  book  dissolve 
together. 

The  young  man  who  on  the  6th  of  October, 
1845,  having  recognized  that  he  could  no  longer, 
without  denying  his  conscience,  keep  the  name 
of  Catholic  and  of  Christian,  descended  the 
steps  of  St.  Sulpice  never  to  ascend  them  again, 
had  as  little  in  common  with  the  frivolous  and 
incredulous  world  in  which  he  was  to  disappear 
as  with  the  world  of  belief  which  he  had  left. 
Voltairianism,  which  was  then  the  religion  of 
France,  was  unknown  or  profoundly  antipathetic 
to  him.  Although  much  later  M.  Renan  recog- 
nized not  only  the  substantial  gratitude  which 
we  owe  to  the  Encyclopedists,  but  also  the  pro- 


ERNEST  BENAN.  185 

found  and  just  views  in  which  their  frivolous 
exegesis  sometimes  anticipated  by  a  century  the 
most  recent  criticism,  the  Voltairian  spirit  had 
had  no  part  in  his  conversion.  He  even  com- 
pared more  than  once,  not  without  a  little  re- 
gret, the  slow  and  painful  manner  in  which  he 
had  effected  the  emancipation  of  his  thought 
with  the  easy  and  painless  fashion  in  which  any 
gamin  of  Paris  reaches  his  independence.  Did 
it  need  six  years  of  Hebrew  and  of  German 
exegesis  pursued  in  doubt  and  trembling  in 
order  to  reach  at  last  as  a  doctrine  the  postu- 
late of  Gavroche!  The  historian  of  the  ideas 
of  this  century  will  not  be  able  to  share  this 
regret.  That  redoubtable  but  superficial  po- 
lemic of  the  eighteenth  century  which  assured 
the  right  of  free  thought,  even  to  those  very 
persons  who  are  now  the  most  disdainful  of  it, 
was  an  admirable  weapon  in  the  contest  with 
the  worst  of  oppressions,  —  that  which  tortures 
in  the  name  of  charity  and  brutalizes  in  the 
name  of  intellect.  But,  this  task  done,  it  re- 
mained singularly  ineffective ;  it  has  nothing  to 
establish  in  the  moral  order,  and  nothing  to 
teach  in  the  scientific  order,  and  it  can  neither 
explain  nor  satisfy  the  religious  sentiment.  In 
its  necessary  work  of  destruction,  in  destroying 
the  fantastical  and  murderous  vegetation  which 
was  choking  the  thought  of  Catholic  peoples,  it 
laid  the  axe  upon  the  very  germ,  upon  the  root 


186  EENEST  RENAN. 

of  the  moral  life.  M.  Renan,  if  he  had  been 
emancipated  at  fifteen  by  the  methods  of  the 
day  (fifteen  is  the  critical  age  for  faith,  in 
French  education),  would  doubtless  have  showed 
the  world,  sooner  or  later,  the  incomparable 
artist  that  was  in  him;  the  literary  chimes 
which  he  carried  in  his  head  from  birth  would 
certainly  have  sounded,  early  or  late,  but  to 
what  tune?  He  might  perhaps  have  been  at- 
tracted by  Greece,  which  later  exercised  so 
powerful  an  attraction  over  his  imagination,  or 
by  pure  science,  which  is  the  finest  field  for 
poetry  next  to  history.  But  we  should  not 
have  had  the  advantage  of  this  unique  experi- 
ence, the  like  of  which  was  never  before  seen  in 
France,  and  which  was  to  give  us,  in  the  end, 
the  first  historian  of  the  religious  sentiment. 

"In  order  to  comprehend  a  religion,"  M. 
Renan  loved  to  say,  "one  must  have  believed  it 
and  have  left  it."  Doubtless  this  in  itself  is 
not  sufficient,  and  everything  depends  on  the 
manner  in  which  one  leaves  the  religion  behind 
him.  Lamennais  also  had  believed  in  Chris- 
tianity and  had  left  it;  nevertheless,  only  at 
the  end  of  his  life  and  many  years  after  his 
stormy  conversion  did  he  do  it  justice.  He 
had  left  the  faith  on  the  battlefield  of  life 
moved  by  indignation  and  anger;  he  did  not 
leave  it  by  the  royal  road  of  criticism  and  his- 
tory. He  detested,  the  very  day  when  he 


ERNEST  KENAN.  187 

ceased  to  adore,  and  his  hatred,  eloquent  and 
noble  like  his  love,  was,  like  that,  sterile  and 
blind.  The  young  seminarist  who  bade  the 
church  farewell  in  1845  left  it  without  hatred 
and  without  anger,  through  very  respect  for 
it,  obeying  solely  the  command  of  an  enlight- 
ened conscience,  which  forbade  him  to  commit 
the  sacrilege  of  serving  a  God  who  still  pos- 
sessed his  heart  but  no  longer  mastered  his 
reason.  Leaving  religious  illusion  behind,  he 
remembered  all  its  magic  spells  and  all  its  eva- 
sions, but  also  all  its  charm  and  all  its  benefit. 
Knowing  why  he  no  longer  believed,  he  knew 
also  how  he  had  believed;  why  he  did  right  to 
believe,  and  how  the  lost  faith  had  answered  for 
a  time  the  noblest  instincts  of  his  nature.  For 
this  reason,  when  he  wrote  the  history  of  past 
beliefs  he  had  only  to  interrogate  himself  to 
find  again  in  his  own  consciousness  the  secret 
of  their  nature  and  their  power. 

His  state  of  mind  at  this  time  was  that  of  the 
liberal  Protestant  theologian  or  of  the  Unita- 
rian. "For  two  months,"  said  he,  "I  was  a 
Protestant."  During  the  last  Holy  Week  which 
he  passed  at  St.  Sulpice,  confiding  the  decision 
which  he  had  already  taken  and  the  anguish  of 
the  approaching  separation  to  one  of  his  friends 
who  had  taken  orders,  he  wrote:  "This  Holy 
Week  above  all  has  been  sorrowful  for  me;  for 
every  circumstance  which  withdraws  me  from 


188  ERNEST  EENAN. 

my  ordinary  life  plunges  me  again  into  distress. 
I  console  myself  by  thinking  of  Jesus,  so  beau- 
tiful, so  pure,  so  ideal  in  his  suffering,  whom  I 
shall  always  love,  whatever  view  I  take  of  his 
nature.  Even  if  I  should  come  to  abandon 
him,  it  would  please  him,  for  it  would  be  a 
sacrifice  at  the  altar  of  conscience :  God  knows 
what  it  would  cost  me."  For  him,  as  for  the 
extreme  left  of  Protestant  theology,  Jesus  was 
no  longer  more  than  the  ideal  man,  the  most 
divine  expression  of  human  nature,  and  he 
dreamed  of  a  neo-Christianity  freed  from  all 
dross  of  superstition,  preserving  its  moral  effi- 
cacy, and  capable  of  remaining  or  becoming 
again  the  great  school  of  humanity  and  its 
guide  in  the  future.  He  believed  himself  still 
a  Christian.  He  recognized  very  quickly,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  no  longer  such,  and  that  the 
symbolic  and  esoteric  Christianity  of  Protestant 
Germany  is  only  an  equivocation.  It  has  no 
substantial  immorality  in  it,  for  it  is  not  due  to 
politic  and  worldly  calculation:  its  most  com- 
mon source  is  a  very  respectable  and  very  reli- 
gious feeling,  a  sincere  and  profound  attachment 
to  ancient  forms,  and  a  touching  gratitude  for 
the  dreams  which  formerly  gave  the  ideal  its 
surest  wings.  It  is,  moreover,  a  beneficent 
equivocation ;  it  favors  in  every  sect  the  exer- 
cise of  free  investigation,  it  deadens  the  shocks 
of  dogma ;  it  facilitates  religious  peace  by  crea- 


ERNEST  EENAN.  189 

ting  the  illusion  that  the  esoteric  Christianity 
of  thinkers  and  the  miraculous  Christianity  of 
the  masses  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  and  that 
Dr.  Harnack  and  Dr.  Stoecker  are  both  Chris- 
tians. Finally,  it  allows  the  highest  layers  of 
thought  of  the  age  to  penetrate  the  lower  layers 
through  the  medium  of  a  common  tradition  and 
common  watchwords,  and  permits  the  new  wine 
to  fill  the  old  skins.  Happy  is  the  country  and 
the  time  in  which  this  confusion  can  take  place. 
It  is  not  now  possible,  however,  in  Catholic 
countries.  Long  before  Renan  saw  clearly  into 
his  thought,  his  teacher  in  theology  at  the  lit- 
tle seminary  of  Issy,  M.  Gottofrey,  an  ardent 
and  sectarian  nature  with  the  intuitions  of  the 
inquisitor,  —  struck  by  the  logic  and  the  force 
and  the  argumentative  power  his  young  pupil 
brought  to  the  discussion  of  theological  subjects, 
—  divined  the  hidden  monster,  and  raised  the 
cry  which  terrified  Renan  without  enlightening 
him:  "You  are  not  a  Christian!  "  There  is  no 
way  under  Catholicism  to  escape  the  letter,  to 
take  refuge  in  allegory:  for  Catholicism  there 
is  no  essential  difference  between  rationalism, 
Euhemerism,  the  mythology  of  the  schools,  and 
the  brutal  Voltairian  negation;  and  we  must 
avow  that  there  is  none  substantially,  and  in 
the  face  of  positive  religion.  The  Catholic  does 
not  comprehend  and  he  cannot  accept,  that 
esoteric  attitude  which  is  the  negation  not  only 


190  ERNEST  EENAN. 

of  Catholicism  but  of  Christianity  itself,  for 
the  liberal  theologian  who  volatilizes  the  Christ 
into  a  moral  metaphor,  and  reduces  the  entire 
Christology  to  an  allegory  and  a  symbol,  just  as 
the  liberal  theologians  of  Neopaganism  were 
wont  to  do  in  the  case  of  Jupiter  and  Hera,  is 
not  a  Christian. 

At  the  time  when  M.  Renan  left  St.  Sulpice, 
he  was  still  only  a  pupil  of  Germany.  He  took 
from  her  not  only  a  system  of  exegesis,  but  also 
a  philosophy  which  for  the  time  replaced  for 
him  the  faith  of  his  fathers.  He  has  often  de- 
scribed the  profound  impression  which  was  made 
upon  him  at  the  age  of  eighteen  by  his  first  in- 
itiation into  Goethe  and  Herder :  "  I  felt  that  I 
was  entering  a  temple."  What  impressed  him 
at  the  first  in  this  philosophy  was  that  reconcil- 
iation of  the  high  religious  spirit  with  the  crit- 
ical spirit  which  holds  out  to  the  Protestant  the 
agreeable  prospect  that  he  can  be  a  philosopher 
without  ceasing  to  be  a  Christian.  The  foun- 
dation of  this  philosophy  is  the  notion  of  '  Be- 
coming,' of  the  perpetual  transformation  of 
things  which  never  are,  but  are  always  on  the 
way  to  being ;  a  view  eminently  historical,  ele- 
vated, and  sanctified  by  the  feeling  of  an  active 
ideal  which  moves  onward  to  its  realization 
through  this  incessant  flux  and  metamorphosis. 
In  its  Hegelian  form  especially,  this  philosophy 
lends  itself  admirably  to  the  task  of  reconciling 


ERNEST  RENAN.  191 

the  most  respectful  religious  conservatism  with 
all  the  demands  of  history;  the  Christ  being 
the  realization  in  time  of  the  unconscious  and 
hidden  deity  who,  in  the  panorama  of  the  uni- 
verse and  the  ages,  seeks  to  come  to  conscious- 
ness, and  who  finds  it  at  last  in  humanity,  in 
the  bosom  of  humanity,  in  the  consciousness 
of  the  Christ.  But  M.  Renan  was  too  much  of 
a  Frenchman  in  intellect  to  delay  long  over 
these  formulas  of  a  too  precise  mysticism: 
moreover,  through  a  bankruptcy  which  still 
weighs  upon  Germany,  they  were  to  end,  under 
pretext  of  the  ideal,  in  the  deification  of  brute 
fact,  in  the  divine  right  of  the  strongest ;  to  be 
logical,  they  should  have  laid  down  as  the  last 
term  of  the  Infinite  in  its  march,  not  the  Christ 
upon  his  cross,  but  Hegel  in  his  professorial 
chair.  Renan  traversed  the  German  systems 
without  settling  there ;  he  drew  from  them  only 
certain  principles :  from  Hegel  the  idea  of  Be- 
coming, and  from  Herder  the  idea  which  cor- 
rects and  complements  '  Becoming, '  the  role  of 
spontaneity  in  creation. 

Scarcely  entered  into  lay  life,  Renan  encoun- 
tered influences  which  were  to  enlighten  the 
obscurity  that  his  Catholic  education  and  his 
German  initiation  had  left  in  his  thought. 
Thrown  upon  the  streets  of  Paris  without  re- 
sources and  without  a  future,  in  this  desert  of 
men  he  had  for  support  only  his  determination 


192  ERNEST  EENAN. 

to  live  in  the  truth  and  for  the  truth.  He  ob- 
tained the  position  of  supervisor  in  a  school  of 
the  Quartier  Latin,  where  he  earned  his  board 
and  lodging  by  two  hours'  work  a  day,  and  had 
the  remainder  of  his  time  free  for  his  own 
tasks.  Among  the  pupils  of  the  institution, 
there  was  a  young  man  eighteen  years  old  who 
already  displayed  the  aureole  of  genius,  —  Mar- 
cellin  Berthelot.  He  already  possessed  the  en- 
cyclopaedic mind,  the  concentrated  ardor,  the 
passion  for  truth,  and  the  sagacity  in  discovery 
which  were  to  make  him  one  of  the  kings  of  sci- 
ence. Younger  than  Renan  by  four  years,  he 
imparted  to  him  the  revelation  of  science  and 
the  philosophy  of  the  external  world,  as  Renan 
had  given  him  the  revelation  of  the  philosophy 
of  the  spirit.  A  deep  friendship,  which  was  to 
endure  for  forty  years,  was  established  between 
these  two  young  men  intoxicated  with  science, 
dreaming  of  a  cosmogony,  in  their  eager  con- 
verse tossing  about  the  fragments  of  the  uni- 
verse. Both  were  still  Christians  in  imagina- 
tion; but  the  exchange  of  ideas  sufficed  in  a 
few  months  to  relegate  these  vestiges  of  faith 
"to  the  department  of  their  souls  devoted  to 
memory;"  and  certain  inflexible  principles  were 
laid  down  which  were  to  form  the  inconcussum 
quid  of  their  faith.  There  is  no  break  in  con- 
tinuity in  the  order  of  phenomena ;  there  is  no 
interruption  in  the  laws  of  nature,  which  goes 


ERNEST  KENAN.  193 

on  without  ceasing,  following  the  impulse  of  its 
interior  movements,  while  no  external  will,  no 
supernatural  intervention,  can  ever  be  de- 
tected in  the  world.  Such  were  the  necessary 
conclusions  which  followed  from  experience  and 
the  justified  inductions  of  science  during  the 
three  centuries  since  science  was  instituted. 
Analogous  conclusions  were  necessary  in  the 
world  of  mind  and  in  the  history  of  man.  Never 
has  a  miracle  been  proved ;  never  has  the  inter- 
vention of  an  extra-human  will  been  manifest  to 
man ;  in  every  verifiable  case,  where  such  a  devi- 
ation has  been  declared,  the  apparent  deviation 
has  been  resolved  into  an  illusion  or  a  legend. 
The  history  of  man  and  of  his  thought  is  only 
one  chapter  in  natural  history.  In  this  way,  M. 
Kenan  found  himself  brought  back  to  the  point 
of  view  of  all  French  philosophy,  of  the  great 
empiricists  of  the  last  century  and  of  the  ideal- 
ists of  the  beginning  of  this  century;  but  he 
added  what  was  lacking  in  them,  the  religious 
sense. 

While  he  continued  the  study  of  Semitic 
languages  begun  at  St.  Sulpice,  he  devoted  a 
large  part  of  his  time  to  Indo-European  studies 
and  attended  the  lectures  of  Burnouf  at  the 
College  de  France.  A  new  illumination,  a  new 
horizon  opened  before  his  thought,  a  third 
and  more  powerful  awakening  of  his  im- 
agination and  his  intellect.  No  scholar  made 


194  ERNEST  EENAN. 

upon  him  so  profound  an  impression  as  Bur- 
nouf;  and  no  one  was  more  deserving  of  the 
opportunity  than  this  great  mind  that  realized 
most  perfectly  the  type  of  the  modern  savant 
whose  discoveries  are  the  result  of  the  mere 
bringing  together  of  facts  honestly  collected, 
and  interpreted  by  the  genius  of  good  sense. 
A  creative  mind  in  the  most  diverse  domains, 
—  in  the  history  of  Buddhism,  of  the  Vedas, 
of  Zoroastrianism,  —  no  one  ever  left  behind 
him  a  shorter  record  of  error,  and  we  must 
come  down  to  M.  Pasteur  to  find  a  similar 
example  of  the  reward  which,  in  the  hands  of 
genius,  awaits  this  irreproachable  and  patient 
method;  but  M.  Pasteur  labors  in  a  field  where 
this  method  has  been  applied  for  a  much  longer 
time  and  is  more  easily  verified.  "In  hearing 
your  lectures  "  (said  Kenan  to  Burnouf ,  in  1849, 
when  dedicating  to  him  the  "Future  of  Sci- 
ence ")  "upon  the  finest  of  languages  and  litera- 
tures in  the  primitive  world,  I  found  the  real- 
ization of  what  before  I  had  only  dreamed, 
science  becoming  philosophy  and  the  highest 
results  proceeding  from  the  most  scrupulous 
analysis  of  details." 

It  was  not  Burnouf 's  method  alone  which 
filled  Renan  with  admiration,  it  was  his  entire 
view  of  the  history  of  thought  as  manifested  in 
language  and  religion.  It  was  a  whole  branch 
of  the  human  family  that  Burnouf  spread  out 


ERNEST  KENAN.  195 

before  him  with  all  its  ramifications  in  time 
and  space,  with  its  infinite  variety  and  its  fruit- 
ful unity.  Again,  it  was  a  broad  pencil  of 
light,  of  induction  and  analogy  projected  upon 
the  parts  of  the  human  forest  which  had  hith- 
erto remained  in  the  dark.  This  was  a  method 
to  be  applied  beyond  the  Aryan  world.  Im- 
pressed by  the  treatise  of  Bopp,  Renan  out- 
lined in  thought  a  comparative  grammar  of  the 
Semitic  languages. 

Thus,  in  less  than  five  years,  there  were 
united  in  his  hands  the  three  elements,  the  three 
metals,  the  fusion  of  which  was  to  make  of  his 
genius  the  most  supple  weapon,  and,  despite  ap- 
pearances, the  one  of  greatest  resistance  since 
the  days  of  Goethe.  He  had  drawn  from  Ger- 
many his  system  of  exegesis,  from  the  natural 
sciences  his  view  of  the  world,  and  from  his- 
torical philology  his  method:  from  his  own 
treasury  he  brought  forth  the  things  which  are 
not  borrowed,  all  the  gifts  of  a  pensive  and 
austere  race;  a  vigorous  curiosity  and  infinite 
sympathy,  espousing  in  imagination  every  form 
of  reality;  inflexible  attachment  in  science  and 
in  life,  to  whatever  had  once  been  recognized 
as  just  and  true. 

These  diverse  but  not  disparate  elements  were 
fermenting  in  his  mind,  when  the  Revolution  of 
1848  broke  out  with  its  humanitarian  dreams 
and  its  bloody  disillusions.  This  was  a  new 


196  ERNEST  EENAN. 

shock,  which  forced  the  student  to  interrogate 
the  depths  of  his  conscience,  and  to  take  ac- 
count of  what  he  was  before  the  world  and 
before  God,  to  sum  up  the  new  faith  which 
had  replaced  in  him  the  ruins  of  Catholicism, 
and  to  which  he  was  now  to  turn  for  guidance 
in  thought  and  life.  The  last  two  months  of 
1848  and  the  first  four  months  of  1849  were  de- 
voted to  the  compilation  of  this  confession.  It 
formed  a  large  volume,  which  was  intended  to 
appear  in  the  same  year,  but  was  not  published 
until  1888,  under  the  title  of  "The  Future  of 
Science."  It  is  one  of  those  books  which  are 
written  only  at  twenty -five,  when  one  is  overflow- 
ing with  illusions  and  enthusiasm.  It  is  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  young  man  who  has  had  a 
revelation  of  a  great  idea,  of  science,  and  who, 
in  the  intoxication  of  the  discovery,  attributes  to 
it  all  the  nobility  of  his  own  soul,  adorns  it  with 
omnipotence,  and  believes  it  capable  of  satisfy- 
ing all  the  aspirations  of  humanity,  of  healing 
all  its  miseries,  and  of  taking  the  soothing  role 
which  positive  religion  can  no  longer  sustain. 
Insufficiently  developed,  often  difficult  in  ex- 
pression, obscure  through  the  plethora  of  thought 
in  a  mind  which  has  not  yet  learned  to  sacrifice 
or  reserve  a  part  of  its  treasures,  and  which 
gives  itself  forth  entire,  often  retarded,  after 
the  German  fashion,  by  those  considerations  of 
system,  which  require  an  apparatus  of  thought 


ERNEST  RENAN.  197 

too  considerable  for  the  substantial  residue  which 
they  leave,  —  this  book  has  yet  more  than  the 
merit  of  being  a  curiosity,  as  M.  Renan  regarded 
it  when,  forty  years  later,  he  took  it  out  of  his 
desk  "to  show  an  entirely  natural  young  man 
but  one  afflicted  by  a  serious  brain  fever,  living 
solely  in  his  intellect  and  believing  fanatically 
in  truth."     This  book  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  the 
most   complete   that  M.    Renan  wrote,   and  it 
contains,  more  than  in  the  mere  germ,  the  whole 
Renan  whom  we  know.    To  be  sure,  in  the  course 
of  time  he  will  lose  his  illusions  as  to  the  om- 
nipotence of  science ;  he  will  recognize  that  it 
cannot  of  itself  found  a  religion;  that  truth  can 
enlighten  and  direct  only  those  who  have  already 
in  themselves  a  directing  principle,  either  in  the 
innate   nobility  of  their   education,  or   in   the 
hereditary  habits  of  virtue  impressed  upon  them 
by  ancestors  who  believed.     He  himself  will  say 
later  that  the  virtue  of    skeptical  ages  is  the 
residuum   left  by  ages   of  faith:    "My  life   is 
always  governed  by  a  faith  which  I  no  longer 
possess."     He  will   recognize  that    the  dream 
of    Plato  is  only  a  dream ;  that  philosophy  is 
not  made  to  rule  the  world  and  to  replace  poli- 
tics ;  and  that  it  is  not  possible  for  science  to 
reconstruct  the  edifice  which  was  built  by  the 
spontaneous  forces  of  nature.      The  fundamen- 
tal optimism  which  penetrates    these  youthful 
pages  —  these  unmeasured  hopes  for  the  future 


198  EBNEST  KENAN. 

of  humanity,  considered  as  the  purposed  end  of 
the  development  of  nature,  and  remaining,  in 
this  semi-Hegelian  conception,  as  it  was  before 
in  the  Catholic  conception,  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse —  will  make  way  for  a  limited  optimism 
which,  under  an  objective  view  of  things,  is 
only  the  form  that  theoretical  pessimism  takes 
in  a  good  soul  enamored  of  the  beautiful,  and 
open  to  the  innocent  pleasures  of  life  and  know- 
ledge. These  pages  bear  the  mark  of  1848, 
in  their  democratic  aspiration,  in  their  concep- 
tion of  humanity  as  one  single  being,  as  a 
homogeneous  body,  all  the  members  of  which 
are  capable  of  comprehending  and  realizing  the 
same  ideal.  It  is  a  long  way  from  this  book  to 
the  despondent  pages  of  the  "Dialogues  philo- 
sophiques,"  and  to  that  transcendent  and  cruel 
vision  of  progress  making  the  immolation  of  a 
lower  layer  of  humanity  serve  the  coming  of 
an  elect  race  which  will  realize  more  fully  the 
obscure  dream  of  the  hidden  God. 

Nevertheless,  despite  the  corrections  which 
age  is  to  bring  to  these  theories  of  youth,  all 
Eenan's  essential  ideas  are  already  here,  and  it 
is  upon  this  foundation,  laid  in  his  twenty-fifth 
year,  that  his  whole  doctrine  was  developed. 
For  a  long  time  this  great  Purana,  left  unpub- 
lished, was  a  sort  of  monumental  quarry  from 
which  he  drew,  without  exhausting  it,  raw  ma- 
terial and  polished  stones,  like  those  architects 


ERNEST  BENAN.  199 

who  built  the  Rome  of  the  Popes  from  the  stones 
of  the  Coliseum.  Some  of  his  most  admired 
pages  came  from  this  quarry,  and  nowhere 
has  he  brought  out  more  clearly  his  conception 
of  the  divine:  "Beauty  in  the  moral  order, 
—  that  is  religion.  This  is  the  reason  why  a 
dead  and  outgrown  religion  is  yet  more  effec- 
tive than  all  purely  secular  institutions;  this 
the  reason  why  Christianity  is  still  more  crea- 
tive, consoles  more  sorrows,  and  acts  more  vig- 
orously upon  humanity,  than  do  all  the  acquired 
principles  of  modern  times.  The  men  who  will 
make  the  future  will  not  be  petty  men,  disput- 
ing, reasoning,  insulting,  —  partisans  and  in- 
triguers, without  an  ideal.  They  will  be  beau- 
tiful, they  will  be  amiable,  they  will  be  poetic. 
.  .  .  The  word  '  God,'  possessing  the  respect 
of  humanity,  having  a  long  office,  and  having 
been  employed  in  noble  poetry,  its  suppression 
would  put  humanity  off  the  track.  Although 
it  is  not  very  '  univocal, '  as  the  scholastics  say, 
it  corresponds  to  a  sufficiently  definite  idea; 
the  summum  and  the  ultimum,  the  limit  where 
the  soul  stops  in  ascending  the  ladder  of  the 
infinite.  .  .  .  Tell  the  simple  to  live  a  life  of 
aspiration  after  truth  and  beauty,  and  these 
words  will  have  no  meaning  for  them.  Tell 
them  to  love  God,  not  to  offend  God,  and  they 
will  understand  you  marvelously  well.  God, 
providence,  the  soul,  —  these  are  so  many  good 


200  ERNEST  RENAN. 

old  words,  a  little  awkward,  but  expressive  and 
respectable,  which  science  will  explain,  but  will 
not  replace  to  advantage.  What  is  God  for 
humanity  if  not  the  transcendent  resume  of  its 
supersensible  needs,  the  category  of  the  ideal 
(that  is,  the  form  under  which  we  conceive  the 
ideal),  as  space  and  time  are  the  categories  of 
matter  (that  is,  the  forms  under  which  we  con- 
ceive matter).  All  may  be  reduced  to  this  fact 
of  human  nature :  Man  facing  the  divine  rises 
out  of  himself,  and  is  held  by  a  heavenly  spell, 
and  his  own  petty  personality  is  exalted  and 
absorbed ?  What  is  this  if  it  is  not  to  adore?  " J 
Augustin  Thierry,  to  whom  M.  Renan  read 
his  manuscript,  dissuaded  him  from  making  his 
entrance  into  the  literary  world  with  this  meta- 
physical epic  in  his  hands.  He  advised  him  to 
send  to  the  "Revue  des  Deux-Mondes "  and  to 
the  "Journal  des  Debats"  articles  upon  various 
subjects,  in  which  he  could  publish  by  instal- 
ments a  stock  of  ideas  which,  presented  in  one 
solid  mass,  would  not  have  failed  to  frighten 
the  French  public.  Thus  "The  Future  of  Sci- 
ence," put  forth  in  sections  and  in  a  concrete, 
illuminated,  and  manageable  form,  entered  little 
by  little  into  intellectual  circulation.2  Yet 

1  This  page  was  reproduced  in  an  article  on  Feuerbach, 
Etudes  (THistoire  Religieuse,  [pp.  418,  419.  — ED.]. 

2  These  articles,  collected  in  volume  form,  furnished  the 
material  for  the  Etudes  d'Histoire  Religieuse,  1857,  and  for  the 
Essais  de  Morale  et  de  Critique,  1859.     In  the  first  of  these 


ERNEST  KENAN.  201 

Kenan's  apprenticeship  to  learning  was  suffi- 
ciently advanced  to  enable  him  to  begin  his 
scientific  career  proper.  Such  a  nature  was 
necessarily  led  to  take  for  its  object  the  study 
of  the  human  mind.  The  great  progress  real- 
ized over  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centu- 
ries, for  which  the  study  of  the  human  mind 
was,  above  all,  a  logical  analysis  and  a  judg- 
ment a  priori,  has  never  been  better  expressed 
than  in  the  closing  lines  of  the  preface  of  his 
book :  "  The  science  of  the  human  mind  should, 
first  of  all,  be  the  history  of  the  human  mind, 
and  this  history  is  possible  only  through  the 
patient  philological  study  of  the  works  which 
it  has  brought  forth  in  different  ages."  It  is 
this  history  which  formed  the  object  of  his  re- 
search for  the  rest  of  his  life. 


n. 

Thus  at  twenty-five  M.  Renan  was  what  he 
was  to  be  later,  what  he  will  be  always.  His 
philosophy  is  constructed,  and  his  life  and  his 
work  will  be  its  peaceful  and  uniform  develop- 
ment. External  circumstances  may  alter  the 
form  and  the  expression,  but  not  the  essence. 

volumes  is  found  the  article  on  "  The  Critical  Histories  of  Je- 
sus," which  anticipates  the  method  of  the  Vie  de  Jfeus,  and  the 
fine  study  of  "  Mahomet  and  the  Origins  of  Islam  "  which 
Dozy  so  greatly  admired. 


202  EENEST  EENAN. 

The  critics,  who  are  absolutely  determined  that 
every  man  shall  be  placed  in  a  category  fixed 
in  advance,  and  are  not  at  ease  until  they  have 
furnished  each  name  with  a  label,  like  the  apo- 
thecary with  his  drugs,  have  often  asked  whether 
M.  Renan  was  a  philosopher,  a  scholar,  or  a 
poet.  As  he  was  plainly  an  incomparable 
writer,  they  concluded  that  he  was,  above  all, 
an  artist,  and  that  in  philosophy  he  was  a  re- 
flection of  Germany,  and  in  science  an  amateur. 
This  shows  that  they  but  slightly  understood 
M.  Renan.  No  writer  of  the  century  sacrificed 
less  to  the  delusive  and  barren  idol  of  "  art  for 
art's  sake."  In  France,  where  the  art  of  ex- 
pression has  always  been  the  supreme  gift,  as 
in  the  time  of  the  Gauls,  no  one  has  more  pro- 
foundly disdained  and  more  decisively  assaulted 
that  literary  dilettanteism,  that  love  of  form 
courted  for  itself  and  not  pursued  as  the  sincere 
expression  of  an  idea  which  deserves  to  be  ex- 
pressed, that  obstinacy  in  despising  the  sub- 
stance of  knowledge  and  esteeming  only  style 
and  talent,  which,  from  1830  to  1860,  paralyzed 
science,  gave  a  fatal  blow  to  serious  research, 
and  reduced  intellectual  culture  to  pompous  and 
superficial  qualities,  to  the  art  of  making  aca- 
demic phrases.1  Science,  philosophy,  and  art 
are  for  him  and  in  him,  one  and  the  same  single 

1  See  in  particular,  Questions  contemporaines,  1868 ;  and  He- 
forme  intellectuelle  et  morale,  1871. 


ERNEST  SEN  AN.  203 

thing,  —  the  diverse  aspects  of  truth  sought, 
comprehended,  and  expressed. 

It  is  not  easy  to  sum  up  the  work  of  M. 
Renan,  so  diverse  is  it  in  its  subjects  and  in  its 
forms.  In  the  variety  of  his  studies  he  resem- 
bles more  a  Greek  philosopher  than  a  modern 
specialist.  A  specialist  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  word  he  never  became.  If  the  philosopher 
devotes  himself  to  a  limited  field,  this  is  reason- 
able because  of  the  impossibility  of  embracing 
everything ;  by  right  the  whole  universe  belongs 
to  him.  Classic  antiquity,  the  Middle  Ages, 
art,  contemporary  history,  politics,  —  M.  Re- 
nan  invaded  all  these  provinces ;  and  if  he  de- 
voted twenty  years  of  his  life  to  the  history  of 
Christianity,  it  was  not  solely  because  his  eccle- 
siastical education  predisposed  him  to  it,  but 
most  of  all  because  Christianity,  with  its  roots 
in  Judaism,  led  him  through  the  most  vital 
periods  of  the  human  soul,  and  allowed  him  to 
refresh  himself  from  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
sources  of  the  moral  life  of  humanity. 

The  special  work  of  M.  Renan  was  done  in 
the  Semitic  domain.  It  is  a  work  essentially 
synthetic.  Although  he  never  ignored  the  value 
of  detailed  research,  and  although  his  historical 
works  in  particular  presuppose  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  minute  investigations,  things  as  a  whole 
attracted  him  most  —  the  monument  which  he 
sees  behind  the  separate  stones,  the  living  being 


204  ERNEST  KENAN. 

that  he  seeks  under  the  fossil  debris.  His 
work  as  a  scholar  was,  according  to  his  own 
definition,  "the  study  of  the  human  race,  sup- 
ported by  the  philological  study  of  its  produc- 
tions." It  is  thus  philological  and  historical. 
It  is  summed  up  in  his  "History  of  the  Se- 
mitic Languages,"  in  his  history  of  the  "Ori- 
gins of  Christianity,"  and  in  the  organization 
of  the  "Corpus  Inscriptionum  Semiticarum." 

He  started  with  pure  philology  and  never 
abandoned  it,  —  the  study  of  languages  being 
the  first  and  indispensable  instrument  of  the 
historical  method.  One  comprehends  an  idea 
only  when  one  can  follow  it  in  its  original  ex- 
pression; the  larger  part  of  the  errors  which 
encumber  religious  history  have  proceeded  from 
theologians  or  theorists  who  labor  upon  transla- 
tions and  cannot  seize  the  idea  in  its  nascent 
state.  So  all  the  great  historians  of  ideas  have 
begun  with  philology;  so  Burnouf,  so  Kenan. 
It  was,  indeed,  in  Burnouf 's  lecture-room  that 
the  idea  of  a  history  of  the  Semitic  languages 
originated.  Dazzled  by  the  light  which  the 
discovery  of  Sanskrit  had  thrown  upon  the 
languages  of  Europe  and  of  half  of  Asia,  by 
this  unexpected  bond  uniting  Greece  to  India 
and  Gaul  to  Persia,  and  by  this  rediscovered 
relationship  between  so  many  supposed  stran- 
gers, he  resolved  to  do  for  the  Semitic  language 
what  Burnouf  had  done  for  the  Indo-European 


ERNEST  EENAN.  205 

tongues.  In  1847,  two  years  after  leaving  St. 
Sulpice,  he  drew  a  sketch  of  what  became  his 
"History  of  the  Semitic  Languages."  Pene- 
trated as  he  then  was  by  the  cosmogonic 
spirit,  he  went  back  at  once  to  the  beginning 
of  things,  and  in  the  same  year  that  he  wrote 
the  "Future  of  Science  "  he  published  an  essay 
upon  the  "Origin  of  Language "  (6th  edition, 
1882).  This  again  is  one  of  those  subjects 
which  only  a  beginner  attacks,  and  the  Societe 
de  Linguistique  of  Paris,  of  which  M.  Renan 
was  president,  puts  at  the  head  of  its  pro- 
gramme a  notice  that  the  society  does  not  ad- 
mit communications  concerning  the  origin  of 
language.  "The  true  theory  of  languages," 
M.  Renan  himself  will  say  later,  "is  their  his- 
tory." The  origin  of  language,  as  the  very 
words  show,  is  outside  of  experience,  outside  of 
history,  outside  of  science.  But  questions  of 
origin  have  such  a  fascination  for  a  religious 
soul  that  it  always  returns  to  wander  around 
the  forbidden  pit.'  According  to  M.  Renan, 
language  does  not  owe  its  birth  to  a  revelation 
from  on  high,  nor  is  it  a  reasoned  invention  of 
mankind :  languages  are  the  immediate  product 
of  the  human  consciousness.  They  have  not 
been  created  slowly  and  gradually  by  gropings 
and  successive  approximations ;  man  is  naturally 
a  speaker  as  he  is  naturally  a  thinker.  Speech 
is  a  spontaneous  work,  like  thought,  like  reli- 


206  ERNEST  EENAN. 

gion.  It  is  not  a  rudimentary  language,  an  in- 
complete vocabulary,  a  grammar  on  the  way  to 
be  made,  which  Renan  places  in  the  cradle  of 
humanity.  Nascent  humanity  had  gifts  of  crea- 
tion and  of  reaction  upon  nature  which  were 
blunted  when  it  no  longer  had  need  of  them. 
The  ancestors  of  our  race  had  a  special  feeling 
for  nature  which  made  them  perceive,  with  a 
delicacy  which  we  no  longer  can  understand, 
the  qualities  which  should  furnish  appellation 
by  signs.  Nature  said  more  to  them  than  to 
us,  or  rather  they  found  in  themselves  a  secret 
echo  which  responded  to  all  those  voices  from 
without  and  rendered  them  in  words.  In  short, 
language,  the  history  of  which  is  the  triumph 
and  the  finest  revelation  of  Becoming,  was  in 
the  beginning  a  creation  of  Spontaneity.  We 
feel  here  the  influence  of  Herder's  conceptions 
of  the  dominant  role  which  spontaneity  plays  in 
human  creations.  Doubtless  between  animal 
expression  and  human  expression,  science  is 
forced  to  admit  as  intermediary  a  spontaneous 
human  creation,  analogous  to  those  which  take 
place  on  every  plane  of  life,  and  which  mark 
the  progress  of  nature.  The  error  consists  in 
attributing  to  this  spontaneity  of  the  earliest 
time  the  product  of  a  long  development  which 
escapes  us  from  the  very  fact  that  we  know 
nothing  of  spoken  language  except  from  the 
moment  when,  by  a  happy  chance,  writing  made 


EKNEST  BENAN.  207 

it  known  to  us.  To  deny  and  to  suppress  this 
development,  because  we  cannot  trace  it  to  its 
beginning,  is  to  objectify  our  ignorance,  and  to 
say  that  nothing  is  going  on  in  the  street  be- 
cause the  curtains  are  drawn. 

If  there  is  any  order  of  phenomena  which  can 
throw  light  upon  the  ancient  epochs  of  language, 
we  must  seek  it  in  a  parallel  order  of  science, 
in  writing.  If  we  knew  only  the  modern  al- 
phabetic forms  of  writing,  its  origin  would  offer 
a  miracle  analogous  to  that  of  speech,  and 
perhaps  still  more  astonishing;  for  here  all  the 
relations  are  purely  abstract  and  all  the  ele- 
ments are  apparently  arbitrary,  while  in  lan- 
guage which  has  arrived  at  the  highest  degree 
of  abstraction  there  still  remain  two  natural 
elements,  —  exclamation  and  gesture.  The  an- 
cient documents  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  China 
have  happily  preserved  for  us  the  first  concrete 
and  natural  element  from  which  all  the  naked 
elements  of  abstract  writing  have  arisen,  —  the 
ideogram.  So,  at  the  origin  of  language,  is 
found  the  ideophone  which  escapes  us,  for  what 
we  call  "roots  "  are  only  a  late  abstraction  which 
grammar  extracts  from  formed  words.  But  the 
creation  of  an  ideophone,  that  is,  a  sound  once 
attached  to  an  image  (whether  this  be  the  image 
of  a  material  object,  or  the  image  of  the  senti- 
ment reflected  in  the  expression  and  the  attitude 
of  the  face),  is  sufficient  to  begin  a  language; 


208  ERNEST  RENAN. 

its  career  is  then  open  to  an  infinite  "becom- 
ing," which  we  cannot  restore  but  which  we 
can  conceive,  and  toward  which  induction  allows 
us  to  go  back,  up  to  a  certain  point,  setting  out 
from  the  most  ancient  form  accessible. 

It  is  not  a  simple  question  of  linguistic  phi- 
losophy that  M.  Renan  thinks  to  solve :  it  is  a 
grave  historical  question.  Have  the  Semitic 
and  the  Aryan  languages  the  same  origin,  and 
can  we  bring  them  into  one  and  the  same  fam- 
ily? Many  attempts  have  been  made  with  this 
end  in  view,  without  much  success;  neverthe- 
less, the  failure  of  these  efforts  does  not  pro- 
nounce decisively  against  the  unity,  for  the 
separation  of  the  two  branches  might  have  been 
too  remote  for  the  primitive  relationship  to  have 
left  visible  traces.  M.  Renan  dismisses  a  priori 
every  attempt  of  this  kind:  the  two  groups  of 
languages  are  constituted  according  to  a  differ- 
ent type,  and  two  types  presuppose  two  crea- 
tions; two  independent  acts  in  two  different 
centres  have  created  two  types  essentially  and 
originally  diverse. 

This  is  a  theory  which  by  its  very  nature 
escapes  control,  and  which,  in  the  present  state 
of  knowledge  and  under  the  impossibility  of 
laying  hold  of  the  two  families  in  really  primi- 
tive epochs,  science  can  neither  verify  nor  refute. 
But  M.  Renan  extended  it  and  carried  it  into 
territory  where  verification  is  possible.  At  the 


ERNEST  KENAN.  209 

time  when  he  entered  upon  his  task,  Germany 
had  just  created,  on  the  basis  of  comparative 
grammar,  the  ingenious  but  frail  edifice  of  com- 
parative mythology,  —  an  illusory  science  which 
could  not  keep  its  promises,  for  it  confounded 
nomen  and  numen,  and  furthermore  by  assimi- 
lating the  common  divine  names,  disregarded 
the  infinitely  diverse  revolutions  of  ideas  which 
had  taken  place  in  these  names  in  the  course  of 
time,  amid  the  thousand  accidents  of  history  and 
the  manifold  collisions  of  different  races  and 
civilizations.  As  comparative  grammar  had 
brought  the  family  of  Aryan  religions  and  the 
family  of  Semitic  religions  face  to  face,  and  as, 
in  fact,  among  Semitic  religions,  only  the  mono- 
theism of  the  Jews  and  that  of  the  Arabs  were 
known,  monotheism  was  made  the  religious 
mark  of  the  Semites.  M.  Renan  carried  into 
the  religious  domain  his  theory  of  the  origin  of 
languages :  religions  have  been  created  by  a 
sudden  intuition  of  the  race.  The  Semitic  race, 
like  the  Aryan,  was  in  possession,  from  the  first 
days  of  its  existence,  of  a  certain  type  of  lan- 
guage and  a  certain  type  of  religion.  "In  re- 
ligion and  in  language  nothing  is  invented; 
everything  is  the  fruit  of  a  position  assumed  in 
the  beginning,  once  for  all."  Hence  a  vast 
antithesis  which  extends  to  every  aspect  of  the 
soul  and  of  life.  With  the  Aryans,  we  find  the 
epic,  the  myth,  the  legend,  the  drama,  the  ob- 


210  ERNEST  KENAN. 

jective  imagination,  the  worship  of  nature ;  with 
the  Semites,  we  find  personal  poetry,  the  lyric 
cry;  the  Aryans  have  founded  the  city,  politi- 
cal life,  and  the  nation ;  the  Semites  have  known 
only  the  nomadic  and  pastoral  life ;  the  Aryans 
have  created  art  and  the  Semites  religion.  We 
know  the  good  fortune  which  these  simple, 
clear,  and  imperative  formulas  have  had:  "You 
inclose  twelve  hundred  years  and  one  half  of 
the  ancient  world  in  the  hollow  of  your  hand  " 
(Taine).  They  were  too  simple  not  to  seduce 
the  public  and  popularizers  at  second  hand,  for 
they  offered  an  admirably  clear  outline  and  a 
guiding  thread  through  history.  But  they  were 
also  too  simple  to  accommodate  the  facts,  and 
in  proportion  as  they  were  more  closely  exam- 
ined, facts  could  hold  up  their  heads.  We  will 
not  dwell  here  upon  the  doubtful  and  danger- 
ous identification  of  the  conception  of  race  and 
the  conception  of  language :  though  there  is  no 
longer  an  Aryan  race  (for  the  so-called  Aryan 
languages  are  obviously  spoken  by  a  multitude 
of  races  which  have  nothing  in  common  with 
the  creators  of  these  languages),  we  may  admit 
that  the  peoples  speaking  a  Semitic  language 
have,  for  the  greater  part,  belonged  to  one  and 
the  same  family.  But  the  progress  of  Semitic 
epigraphy  since  1845  has  revealed  the  fact  that 
monotheism  was  only  an  exception  with  the 
Semites ;  that  with  the  Jews  it  was  a  late  step 


ERNEST  BENAN.  211 

in  reflection,  and  with  the  Arabs  and  Syrians 
an  importation  from  the  Jews  and  the  Chris- 
tians. The  history  of  Assyria  and  of  Chaldea 
has  shown  that  the  Semites  could  also  found 
empires,  and  the  library  of  Assurbanipal  has 
given  us  fragments  of  epics.  The  Corpus  it- 
self, directed  by  M.  Renan,  has  brought  from 
ancient  Carthage,  from  Phoenicia,  and  from 
pre-Islamic  Arabia  innumerable  relics  of  an 
ancient  Semitic  polytheism.  The  Arabian  des- 
ert is  no  more  monotheistic  than  the  Iranian 
plateau  or  the  valley  of  the  Indus. 

These  theories,  which  dominate  the  whole 
work  of  M.  Renan,  form  the  introduction  to 
his  " History  of  the  Semitic  Languages."1 
Through  the  effect  which  they  had  upon  the 
ideas  of  this  second  half  of  the  century,  they 
belong  to  history;  but  the  book  itself  belongs 
to  science  alone.  Without  doubt,  if  it  had 
been  written  to-day,  its  limits  would  have  been 
extended.  M.  Renan  included  only  the  classic 
Semitic  languages,  those  of  which  scholars  had 
a  grammatical  and  literary  knowledge  thirty 
years  ago,  —  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Arabic,  and  Ethi- 
opic.  Phoenician  is  the  only  purely  epigraphic 
language  admitted.  In  his  "Recollections"  of 
his  youth  he  declares,  with  his  usual  frankness, 

1  See,  also,  his  opening  lecture  at  the  College  de  France  in 
1862,  and  in  the  Journal  Asiatique,  1859,  "  Nouvelles  Conside- 
rations  sur  le  Caractere  general  des  Peuples  Semitiques  et  enpar~ 
ticulier  sur  leur  Tendance  au  Monothtisme." 


212  ERNEST  BENAN. 

that  he  never  knew  well  anything  but  what  his 
teacher  of  Hebrew  at  St.  Sulpice,  the  Abbe  Le 
Hir,  had  taught  him.  This  is  a  great  exagger- 
ation, but  it  had  a  foundation  of  truth.  His 
essential  ideas  were  sketched  early,  and  the 
facts  which  agreed  ill  with  these  ideas  had  great 
difficulty  in  getting  themselves  recognized.  A 
history  of  the  Semitic  languages  should  have 
devoted  one  of  its  principal  chapters  to  Assyr- 
ian. M.  Renan  dismissed  it  with  a  few  lines, 
not  being  sure  that  the  language  was  Semitic. 
Doubtless  the  uncertainties  of  decipherment  to 
this  day,  and  the  unusual  awkwardness  which 
the  Assyriologists  showed  in  their  exposition, 
went  far  to  justify  his  attitude  of  reserve,  and 
he  was  right  in  waiting  for  fuller  light;  but 
this  reserve  was  due  also  to  a  purely  theoretical 
idea,  — that  Assyrian,  being  expressed  in  an 
alphabet  which  was  not  Semitic,  could  not  be 
a  Semitic  language.  Here,  again,  dogmatic 
theory  took  precedence  of  fact. 

In  spite  of  these  licenses  and  these  omissions, 
the  "History  of  the  Semitic  Languages"  is  one 
of  the  fine  books  of  the  century,  a  book  the 
equivalent  of  which  for  the  Aryan  family  is 
still  wanting.  It  is  not  a  comparative  gram- 
mar, properly  so  called  (the  comparative  gram- 
mar was  to  form  a  second  volume,  which  has 
never  appeared);  it  is  a  history  proper,  that  is, 
it  shows  us  these  languages  in  the  geographical 


ERNEST  EENAN.  213 

domain  which  they  occupied,  in  the  vesture  of 
writing  which  they  adopted,  in  the  ages  through 
which  they  endured,  in  the  historical,  religious, 
and  literary  monuments  to  which  they  gave  ex- 
pression, and  in  the  works  that  they  have  left. 
Of  the  second  volume  a  few  separate  chapters 
have  appeared;  one  chapter  on  the  Semitic  verb 
(Memoires  de  la  Societe  de  Linguistique  de 
Paris);  another  upon  the  theophoric  names 
(Revue  des  Etudes  Juives,  vol.  v.).  In  these 
fragments,  of  much  later  date  than  the  compo- 
sition of  the  first  volume,  Assyrian  has  taken 
its  due  place. 

The  "History  of  the  Semitic  Languages," 
appearing  in  1855,  opened  to  the  author  the 
doors  of  the  Academie  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles- 
Lettres,  and  made  him  the  recognized  master 
of  Semitic  philology  in  France.  But  he  had 
published  three  years  before  a  book  of  another 
order,  which  is  not  subject  to  the  same  theoreti- 
cal reservations,  and  which  is  an  admirable  spe- 
cimen of  what  he  understood  by  "the  history  of 
mind."  This  was  his  doctor's  thesis,  "  Averroes 
et  1'Averroisme."  Up  to  this  time,  M.  Renan 
had  diffused  over  the  most  diverse  subjects 
his  vast  curiosity,  his  breadth  of  thought,  and 
a  talent  for  exposition  the  personal  character 
of  which  had  surprised  connoisseurs.  Hap- 
pily the  necessities  of  life  forced  him  to  concen- 
trate upon  one  subject  and  to  apply  his  whole 


214  ERNEST  KENAN. 

strength.  Being  entirely  without  personal  re- 
sources, and  supporting  himself  by  a  very  mod- 
est place  in  the  National  Library,  he  needed  to 
pass  the  University  examinations  before  he  could 
hope  for  a  situation  which  would  free  him  from 
pecuniary  cares.  He  had  passed  the  examina- 
tion for  a  fellowship  in  1848,  and  by  the  advice 
of  M.  Victor  Le  Clerc,  dean  of  the  Faculty  of 
Letters,  who  had  recognized  his  promise,  he 
aimed  at  the  doctorate.  The  subject  was  the 
best  one  that  could  have  been  chosen  to  give 
the  old  Sorbonne  an  idea  of  the  value  and  the 
range  of  the  new  methods.  It  was  a  chapter 
out  of  her  own  history,  out  of  her-  own  tradition, 
that  the  young  candidate  brought  to  her  from 
the  Orient.  The  scholastic  philosophy  derived 
from  Arabic  philosophy,  which  was  itself  only 
a  reflection  from  Greek  philosophy,  and  the 
thought  of  our  Middle  Ages  lived  on  scraps  of 
Aristotle.  Certainly  there  is  little  in  philoso- 
phy more  barren  and  less  original,  and  only  by 
revolting  against  it  could  Europe  reenter  the 
world  of  the  living.  Nevertheless,  it  is  inter- 
esting and  consoling  to  see  how  under  the  rigid 
shroud  of  traditional  formulas  individual  genius 
could  stir,  and,  under  the  only  form  which  the 
time  admitted,  take  up  all  the  problems  of  phi- 
losophy. It  is  also  curious  to  see  through  what 
strange  channels  the  intellectual  curiosity  of 
Greece  found  its  way  to  us,  and  preserved  the 


EENEST  KENAN.  215 

spark  of  fire  under  the  ashes,  until  the  days  of 
the  Renaissance.  M.  Renan  begins  by  writing 
the  history  of  this  philosophy  among  the  Syri- 
ans, for  it  was  from  the  Syrians  that  the  Arabs 
received  it.1  He  shows  us  how  the  Syrian  Chris- 
tians, pupils  of  the  Greeks,  accepted  in  the 
fourth  century,  from  the  Alexandrians  the  as- 
cendency of  Aristotle,  whose  "  Organon  "  they 
translated;  how  Edessa  became  a  peripatetic 
centre;  how  the  Nestorians,  expelled  from 
Edessa  in  486  by  the  Emperor  Zeno,  carried 
Aristotle  into  Persia,  and  how  one  of  them, 
Paul  the  Persian,  dedicated  to  Khosroes  an 
abridgment  of  the  "Logic."  The  Arabic  con- 
quest, with  the  fanaticism  which  accompanied 
it,  interrupted  only  for  a  short  time  the  course 
of  Aristotle's  conquests;  hardly  a  century  and 
a  half  had  elapsed  when  the  lay  spirit  took  the 
upper  hand  with  the  Abbassides,  the  heirs  of 
the  intellectual  curiosity  of  the  Sassanides.  M. 
Renan  shows  the  deceptive,  uncertain  character 
of  the  term  "Arabic  philosophy,"  as  applied 
to  the  movement  which  went  on  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Caliphs.  This  philosophy  had  no- 
thing Arabic  about  it  except  the  language  in 
which  it  was  expressed,  Arabic  having  become 

1  De  Philosophia  Peripatetica  apud  Syros.  Commentationem 
historicam  scripsit  E.  Renan.  Paris:  A.  Durant.  Compare  a 
series  of  articles  upon  the  literature  of  the  Syriac  texts  pertain- 
ing to  philosophy  or  gnosticism  in  the  Journal  Asiatique,  1880, 
'82,  '83,  '85,  '86. 


216  ERNEST  EENAN. 

the  official  and  literary  language.  Not  one  of 
the  so-called  Arabic  philosophers  was  of  Ara- 
bian blood ;  they  were  all  Persians ;  the  dynasty 
which  favored  them  came  from  the  Eastern 
provinces  of  the  caliphate,  the  provinces  which 
preserved  the  Iranian  spirit  most  purely,  and 
the  devotion  of  which  led  them  to  the  throne. 
The  Abbassides  were  Mussulman  Sassanides, 
and  the  movement  begun  under  Khosroes  went 
on  under  the  Abbassides  with  the  same  initia- 
tors, the  Christian-Greek  Syrians.  The  limit 
was  no  longer  the  "Organon."  It  was  Aris- 
totle entire  that,  after  the  time  of  Al-Mamun 
(813-833),  passed  from  Greek  into  Syriac  and 
from  Syriac  into  Arabic.  The  Arabic  transla- 
tions will  comprise  Al-Farabi,  Avicenne,  Aver- 
roes, and  all  the  Mussulmans  who  are  to  wholly 
supersede  their  Syrian  masters.  Averroes  was 
the  last  great  Arabic  scholar.  He  came  before 
the  decadence  of  philosophical  studies  among 
the  Mussulmans  who  were  to  find  peace  in  the 
theology  of  Gazzali  and  to  condemn  rational 
science  with  him,  because  it  teaches  how  to  do 
without  God.  The  works  of  Averroes  had  an 
infinitely  greater  reputation  in  the  West  than 
in  the  East;  his  name  closed  Arabic  and  began 
European  philosophy.  Adopted  by  the  Jews 
of  Spain  and  of  the  South  of  France,  he  was 
translated  from  Arabic  into  Hebrew,  and  from 
Hebrew  into  Latin,  and  thus  was  completed  the 


ERNEST  EENAN.  217 

circle  which,  by  a  strange  series  of  detours,  was 
to  bring  to  the  West  a  ray  of  Greek  thought  and 
prepare  it  for  the  Kenaissance.  By  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century  almost  all  the  work 
of  the  great  Commentator  was  translated.  A 
curious  history,  this,  of  the  combats  which  raged 
over  these  texts  falsified  by  the  errors  of  four 
or  five  series  of  translators  of  every  religion  and 
every  race,  misunderstood  by  those  who  brought 
them  as  well  as  by  those  who  received  them, 
and  which,  nevertheless,  served  as  a  support 
and  a  pretext  for  the  boldest  and  most  liberal 
theories.  Respected  as  a  master  by  the  Fran- 
ciscans and  the  University,  but  denounced  by 
the  Dominicans  as  the  chief  of  heresiarchs, 
this  not  especially  original  commentator  of  a 
badly  understood  doctrine  became  in  the  Middle 
Ages  the  representative  of  materialistic  skepti- 
cism, the  protestant  for  free  thought  against 
the  theological  yoke.  When  the  Renaissance 
brings  back  the  real  Aristotle  and  the  veritable 
spirit  of  Greek  philosophy,  Averroism,  depend- 
ing only  upon  its  own  slight  worth,  loses  its 
vitality,  and  becomes  an  embarrassing  and  ridi- 
culous debris.  In  the  school  of  Padua  alone 
it  continued  to  lead  a  barren  and  insipid  exist- 
ence down  to  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  problems  which  had  beset  him  at  St. 
Sulpice  remained  for  M.  Renan  the  essential 
aim  of  science,  and  the  ideal  of  his  life  as  a 


218  JEBNEST  EENAN. 

savant  was  always  the  pursuit  of  critical  re- 
searches concerning  Christianity,  with  resources 
far  larger  than  lay  science  offered  him.  A  for- 
tunate opportunity  took  him  in  1860  to  the  very 
cradle  of  Christianity.  The  Emperor  Napo- 
leon, inspired  by  a  woman  of  a  noble  and  free 
spirit,  his  friend  in  childhood  (Mme.  Henriette 
Cornu),  whose  secret  and  beneficent  influence 
was  to  be  found  in  all  the  liberal  and  intelligent 
measures  that  marked  the  second  half  of  the 
empire,  charged  M.  Renan  with  a  mission  to 
Phoenicia.  This  mission  was  to  make  its  mark 
in  the  history  of  science  and  of  ideas,  not  only 
through  its  direct  results,  —  rich  as  was  the 
archaeological  harvest  gathered  by  M.  Renan 
on  a  ground  apparently  exhausted  by  many 
wars  and  revolutions,  —  but  chiefly  through 
the  two  great  projects  which  came  from  it,  the 
"Origins  of  Christianity"  and  the  Corpus. 

During  the  last  days  of  his  mission,  on  the 
heights  of  Ghazir  in  Lebanon,  where  he  had 
brought  his  sister,  Henriette,  in  search  of  rest 
and  health,  exhausted  as  she  was  by  the  voyage 
and  attacked  by  a  malady  which  was  to  prove 
fatal,  Renan  resolved  to  put  in  writing  the 
ideas  concerning  the  life  of  Jesus  which  his  trav- 
els in  Palestine  had  kindled  in  his  mind.  "  In 
reading  the  Gospel  in  Galilee,  the  personality 
of  this  great  founder  had  forcibly  impressed 
itself  upon  me.  In  the  profoundest  repose  that 


ERNEST  KENAN.  219 

it  is  possible  to  conceive,  I  wrote,  with  the 
help  of  the  Gospel  and  Josephus,  a  life  of  Jesus 
which,  at  Ghazir,  I  brought  down  to  the  last 
journey  of  Jesus  to  Jerusalem.  Delicious  hours, 
too  soon  vanished,  may  eternity  bring  you 
again !  "  These  lines  at  once  explain  and  sum 
up  the  human  charm  and  the  scientific  origi- 
nality of  the  "Life  of  Jesus."  They  emanate 
from  a  profound  and  penetrating  feeling  of  the 
human  personality  of  Jesus.  His  scientific  pre- 
decessors (naturally,  I  do  not  speak  of  purely 
orthodox  theologians)  had  made  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  either  an  amalgam  of  arid  rationalism 
and  attenuated  mythology,  satisfying  neither  to 
reason  nor  faith  nor  history,  or  a  creation  of 
imagination  and  logic,  due  entirely  to  the  mind 
of  the  believer,  to  his  expectations  and  his  prior 
beliefs;  the  life  of  Christ  was  written  almost 
entirely  in  the  thought  of  his  own  people,  and 
it  was  almost  superfluous  that  Christ  himself 
had  existed.  The  first  of  these  conceptions 
was  inadmissible  for  those  who  believe  in  the 
continuity  of  the  laws  of  nature  and  history. 
The  second,  by  suppressing  the  person  of 
Christ,  or  drawing  a  veil  before  it,  left  a 
miracle  greater  and  more  astonishing  than  all 
those  of  the  ancient  faith.  How  could  the 
Messianic  hopes  which  filled  the  atmosphere  of 
Judea  in  the  time  of  Augustus  have  centred  at 
a  certain  time  around  the  person  of  Jesus,  if 


220  ERNEST  EENAN. 

this  person  had  not  been  more  than  a  name,  if 
he  had  not  been  something  potent,  august,  fruit- 
ful, capable  of  creating  a  faith ;  in  other  words, 
if  he  had  not  acted,  if  he  had  not  had  a  history? 
Critics  can  find  abundant  objections  to  the 
work  of  M.  Renan,  and  they  have  not  failed  to 
do  so.  Some  reproach  him  with  the  inexact- 
ness and  the  uncertainty  of  his  facts,  and  the 
contradictions  in  his  characterization,  or,  in- 
versely, with  an  excess  of  precision  in  the  psy- 
chology of  illusion,  and  that  desire  to  explain 
all  the  legends  which  leads  us  by  a  round- 
about way  to  that  rationalism  so  much  decried. 
Others  will  reproach  him  for  not  being  ac- 
quainted with  "the  latest  German  criticism," 
which  in  the  eyes  of  some  is  the  unpardonable 
sin  (but  there  is  so  much  latest  German  criti- 
cism !) ;  with  having  given  to  the  narratives  of 
the  Fourth  Gospel  a  questionable  value;  others, 
finally,  will  make  the  reproach  which  can  be 
made,  indeed,  against  all  lives  of  Jesus,  that 
the  writer  has  not  studied  sufficiently,  and  at 
first  hand,  the  Jewish  environment  where  Jesus 
was  produced,  —  most  essential  to  a  thorough 
comprehension  of  the  subject.  But  making  al- 
lowance for  all  these  criticisms,  and  admitting 
that  M.  Renan  has  not  written  the  definitive 
"Life  of  Jesus,"  and  that  a  definitive  life  of 
Jesus  is  only  a  dream,  —  since  we  know  Jesus 
only  by  documents  late  in  point  of  time,  and 


ERNEST  RENAN.  221 

impregnated  with  legends  which  veil  his  figure 
and  his  life  from  the  day  after  his  death,  and 
even  before  it,  —  it  still  remains  true  that  Re- 
nan  drew  nearer  to  the  real  Christ  than  any  one 
had  done,  for  he  is  the  first  writer  who  brought 
him  back  within  the  limits  of  historic  humanity. 
This  human  and  therefore  scientific  conception 
of  the  Christ  was  not  in  M.  Renan  the  fruit  of 
reflection  and  study.  It  went  back  to  his  Catho- 
lic and  French  education.  In  that  beautiful 
page  of  the  "Souvenirs "  where  he  imagines  the 
Christ,  in  the  midst  of  his  struggles  at  the  sem- 
inary, saying  to  him,  "Abandon  me  in  order 
to  become  my  disciple,"  he  adds:  "I  can  say 
that  from  that  time  the  '  Life  of  Jesus '  was 
written  in  my  mind.  The  belief  in  the  pre- 
eminent personality  of  Christ,  which  is  the  soul 
of  this  book,  was  my  strength  in  my  struggle 
with  theology."  A  Catholic  who  ceases  to  be- 
lieve in  Christ  "truly  man  and  truly  God"  is 
forced  to  choose  clearly  and  without  reserve  be- 
tween the  Christ-man  and  the  Christ-God.  He 
seizes  the  man  Jesus  with  an  instinct  for  reality 
which  no  liberal  theologian  displays,  and  M. 
Renan  justified  the  lines,  written  several  years 
before  he  began  his  "Life  of  Jesus,"  when  per- 
haps he  was  already  dreaming  of  it :  "  One  may 
affirm  that  if  France,  better  endowed  than 
Germany  with  the  sentiment  of  the  practical 
life,  and  less  inclined  to  substitute  in  history  the 


222  ERNEST  BEN  AN. 

action  of  ideas  for  the  play  of  individual  passion 
and  character,  had  undertaken  to  write  the  life 
of  Christ  in  a  scientific  manner,  she  would  have 
exhibited  a  more  vigorous  method,  and  while 
avoiding  the  transfer  of  the  problem,  after  the 
manner  of  Strauss,  into  the  domain  of  ab- 
stract speculation,  would  have  approached  much 
nearer  to  the  truth." 1 

I  am  not  competent,  neither  have  I  any  right, 
to  judge  the  "Origins  of  Christianity"  as  a 
whole.  Such  a  whole  raises  a  multitude  of  sec- 
ondary questions  of  every  order,  and  the  sub- 
ject itself  leads  to  many  divergencies,  so  that 
it  is  impossible  to  expect  a  uniform  judgment 
from  criticism.  German  criticism  seems  to  have 
been  put  off  the  track  by  the  processes  of  M. 
Kenan's  exposition;  having  taken  as  his  object 
the  reproduction  of  the  historical  reality,  as  he 
has  restored  it,  in  a  continuous  narrative,  he  is 
content  to  name  his  sources,  and  takes  for 
granted  the  discussion  which  specialists  should 
be  able  to  follow  up  on  a  hint.  The  German 
critics  have  not  always  taken  the  trouble  to  do 
this  work  for  themselves  (it  demands  a  certain 
measure  of  good-will),  and  they  have  often 
treated  M.  Kenan's  work  as  a  scientific  fantasy 
in  which  the  imagination  had  as  large  a  part  as 
research.  French  criticism,  on  its  side,  has 
reproached  him  with  the  uncertainty  of  his  con- 

1  Les  Historiens  Critiques  de  Jtsus. 


ERNEST  KENAN.  223 

elusions;  with  the  multiplicity  of  his  conjec- 
tures and  possibilities;  with  his  abuse  of  "per- 
haps "  and  "it  seems;"  with  all  that  atmosphere 
of  doubt  in  which  floats  the  movement  of  a  his- 
tory that,  nevertheless,  had  a  definite  reality. 
A  criticism  less  prejudiced  than  the  German 
would  have  recognized  the  immense  labor  which 
the  "Origins"  presupposes  and  the  solidity  of 
the  substructure,  especially  from  the  time  when 
Christianity  definitely  separated  from  Judaism. 
If  the  French  critics  had  also  taken  the  trouble 
to  refer  to  the  sources  indicated  in  the  notes, 
they  would  have  recognized  that  these  words, 
"perhaps"  and  "it  seems,"  never  referred  to 
the  matter  of  the  history  but  to  the  manner; 
and  that  the  author  never  adds  a  material  cir- 
cumstance to  the  text,  a  detail  to  the  picture  of 
manners,  or  a  feature  to  the  landscape.  Never 
does  he  suppose  an  important  circumstance 
which  the  text  does  not  present  or  suggest. 
"Origins  are  always  obscure,  and  in  order  to 
divine  the  effaced  pages  of  these  old  histories,  a 
divination  is  needed  into  which  there  enters 
something  of  the  personal  element.  To  know 
exactly  how  things  occurred  is  almost  impossi- 
ble; the  end  which  criticism  proposes  to  itself 
is  to  discover  the  manner,  or  the  manners,  in 
which  they  might  have  occurred."  Perhaps  M. 
Eenan  sinned  too  often  through  excess  of  scru- 
ples. The  fear  of  taking  sides  between  hypo- 


224  ERNEST  BENAN. 

theses  equally  plausible  and  equally  uncertain 
is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  but  we  must  know 
sometimes,  through  our  very  devotedness,  how 
to  accept  the  role  of  imprudence ;  it  is  a  sacri- 
fice made  in  the  interest  of  further  progress. 
An  error  resolutely  adopted  and  clearly  ex- 
pressed is  sometimes  more  profitable  than  a  too 
wise  reserve;  it  refutes  itself  by  its  conse- 
quences, clears  the  ground  by  so  much,  and 
frees  the  horizon  from  one  of  the  clouds  which 
serve  to  obscure  it.  We  must  take  sides  in 
science  as  in  life :  it  is  the  condition  of  move- 
ment and  action.  But  with  all  its  defects  and 
its  weak  points,  this  great  synthesis  will  serve 
for  a  long  time  as  a  point  of  departure  to  new 
efforts  of  analysis;  men  may  take  it  up  again 
in  sections  and  replace  many  parts,  but  the  his- 
tory of  knowledge,  if  it  is  just,  will  admire  the 
strength  of  this  effort,  the  first  ever  made  by 
independent  science,  to  present  the  story  of  the 
heroic  and  creative  periods  of  Christianity  in 
the  continuity  of  their  development. 

In  a  collection  of  fragments  of  paper  found 
after  the  death  of  M.  Kenan,  in  which  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  noting  down  at  the  moment  the 
thoughts  and  fancies  which  came  to  his  mind, 
there  was  discovered  one  containing  these  words : 
"Of  all  that  I  have  done  I  love  the  Corpus 
best."  This  is  a  saying  which  will  be  compre- 
hended with  difficulty  by  the  myriads  of  readers 


ERNEST  REN  AN.  225 

of  the  "Life  of  Jesus,"  and  it  will  not  be  well 
understood  even  by  the  two  hundred  persons 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  Corpus,  unless 
they  have  been  thoroughly  penetrated  by  the 
spirit  of  M.  Renan.  For  Renan,  the  great 
object  in  life,  that  which  makes  its  nobility,  its 
dignity,  and  its  worth,  is  to  work  for  absolute 
truth,  for  truth  without  alloy  of  error  and  free 
from  personal  illusion.  Now,  in  the  present 
state  of  science,  all  the  restorations  that  we  can 
make  of  the  periods  of  antiquity  which  are  most 
important  to  us,  since  they  are  creative  forces 
and  we  live  on  our  inheritance  from  them,  are 
conjectural  works  in  which  the  intuition  of  the 
thinker  is  the  great  architect.  But  genius  it- 
self cannot  reerect  the  edifice  of  the  ages  from 
scattered  debris  of  column  shafts,  in  its  full 
extent  and  grandeur,  in  all  its  form  and  beauty ; 
it  can  only  build  a  temple  to  its  own  glory.  If 
the  instinct  of  its  intuition  has  found  the  dead 
reality,  the  felicity  of  this  agreement  is  fully 
known  only  to  the  gods,  and  it  is  felt  by  us  and 
by  itself  only  through  a  vague  and  uncertain 
pleasure.  Nevertheless,  these  magnificent  res- 
torations, which  have  their  full  value  in  the 
presence  of  the  ideal,  are  not  lost  to  science, 
for  they  inspire  the  ardent  search  for  relics,  and 
bring  about  the  discovery  of  unexpected  remains 
which  will  one  day  permit  new  constructions 
more  reliable  and  nearer  to  the  inaccessible 


226  ERNEST  HEN  AN. 

reality.  There  will  thus  have  entered  the  eter- 
nal Pantheon,  beautiful  forms  and  noble  images, 
which  humanity  will  come  to  adore,  satisfying 
its  thirst  for  the  ideal  and  its  aspirations  for 
great  things.  Above  this  grand  work,  which 
is  the  vision  of  a  universe  in  fragments  reflected 
in  a  great  soul,  but  a  soul  of  individual  color, 
there  rises  imperceptibly,  according  to  a  realis- 
tic philosophy,  the  obscure,  impersonal,  almost 
anonymous  labor  of  the  worker  who  has  put 
aside  the  ego  which  limits  his  ambition  for 
disinterring  facts,  for  exhuming  realities,  for 
bringing  us  in  contact  with  the  things  which 
have  been,  for  reducing  the  yawning  abysses 
which  the  poet's  induction  would  fill  up  at 
once.  This  is  the  work  which  has  life,  —  life 
from  the  past  whence  it  draws  all  its  substance, 
life  in  the  future  which  will  be  built  upon  it; 
this  is  the  work  which  succeeds,  and  through 
which,  however  mute  and  incomplete,  the  savant 
enters  into  full  and  perfect  communion  with  the 
truth  that  has  been,  and  the  conscience  of  the 
universe. 

It  is  a  work  of  this  kind  which  was  realized  in 
the  "Corpus  Inscriptionium  Semiticarum,"  and 
for  this  reason  it  was  very  dear  to  M.  Renan. 
At  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  scarcely 
remained  of  Semitic  antiquity  more  than  one 
document,  the  Bible.  The  rest  of  the  Semitic 
world  was  only  a  pale  shadow,  divined  through 


ERNEST  BEN  AN.  227 

the  Bible.  Epigraphy  called  this  world  from 
the  limbo  of  shades.  In  1842  the  pickaxes 
of  Botta  and  Layard  brought  from  the  earth 
ancient  Assyria  with  its  innumerable  inscrip- 
tions, the  decipherment  of  which  will  occupy 
generations  of  scholars.  Then  came  the  turn 
of  Chaldea.  In  1843  the  chemist  Arnaud  dis- 
covered in  Yemen  the  remains  of  that  old  Him- 
yaritic  civilization  which  had  left  only  one  legen- 
dary trace,  the  name  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 
In  1862  M.  de  Vogue  brought  back  from  the 
volcanic  mass  of  Safa,  in  central  Syria,  four 
hundred  specimens  of  a  new  epigraphy.  Phoe- 
nicia was  still  poor;  but  in  1846  the  inscrip- 
tion of  Marseilles,  and  in  1855  the  inscription 
of  Eshmunazar,  added  two  significant  monu- 
ments to  this  epigraphy,  until  then  so  meagre 
and  sterile.  M.  Renan's  mission,  though  richer 
in  sculpture  than  in  inscriptions,  nevertheless 
added  some  important  texts.  The  epigraphic 
material  thus  accumulated  gave  a  good  view  of 
chapters  of  history  of  which  men  had  had  no 
notion  before.  Was  it  not  time  to  bring  to- 
gether all  these  scattered  materials,  and  to  put 
them  in  the  hands  of  investigators?  Bockh's 
Greek  Corpus  had  shown  the  progress  that  one 
might  expect  from  a  collection  of  this  kind. 
What  unknown  aspects  of  the  life  of  the  Greeks 
and  what  new  chapters  in  their  history  had  been 
revealed  by  simply  bringing  together  the  in- 


228  ERNEST  KENAN. 

scriptions  discovered  in  every  corner  of  the  em- 
pire of  the  Greek  language,  and  classifying  them 
according  to  their  country  and  their  date ! 

On  the  25th  of  December,  1867,  M.  Renan, 
in  his  own  name  and  in  that  of  MM.  Saulcy, 
De  Longpe*rier,  and  Waddington,  proposed  that 
the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles-Let- 
tres  undertake  the  publication  of  a  Corpus  of 
Semitic  inscriptions.  The  commission  named 
by  the  Academy  was  unanimous  in  recognizing 
that  the  project  was  worthy,  and  that  France, 
through  her  domination  in  northern  Africa, 
through  her  scientific  relations  with  Egypt, 
Assyria,  and  Greece,  through  the  numerous  spe- 
cimens of  Semitic  writing  which  she  possessed 
in  her  museums,  through  the  quantity  of  mate- 
rial accumulated  by  her  missions,  and  finally 
through  the  tradition  maintained  in  France 
from  the  time  of  the  founder  of  Semitic  epi- 
graphy, the  Abbe  Barthelemy,  was  called  upon 
to  take  charge  of  this  task.  On  the  26th  of 
April,  1868,  the  first  commission  on  the  Cor- 
pus was  named : l  the  preparatory  labors  lasted 
fourteen  years,  and  it  was  only  in  1881  that  the 
first  fasciculus  of  the  work,  so  long  expected, 
appeared.  This  long  delay  had  not  been  use- 
less. According  to  its  first  calculations,  the 

1  It  embraced  MM.  De  Saulcy,  Mohl,  De  Longpe'rier,  Renan, 
De  Slane,  and  Waddington.  Only  one  of  these  six  originators 
of  the  work  remains. 


ERNEST  REN  AN.  229 

commission  would  have  completed  the  Corpus 
in  two  volumes;  the  new  treasures  acquired 
after  1867  soon  proved  that  these  modest  pro- 
portions would  be  greatly  exceeded.  In  1869 
M.  Halevy,  who  had  been  sent  by  the  Insti- 
tute to  Yemen,  brought  back  nearly  five  hun- 
dred inscriptions  to  add  to  the  fifty  of  Arnaud 
and  his  predecessors,  and  this  number  has  been 
tripled  lately  by  M.  Glaser.  In  1874  M.  de 
Ste.  Marie  disinterred  at  Carthage  those  thou- 
sands of  ex-votos  to  the  goddess  Rabbat-Tanit, 
which,  in  spite  of  their  discouraging  monotony, 
compensated,  through  the  multitude  of  their 
proper  names,  for  the  emptiness  of  their  con- 
tents, and  permitted  the  restocking  of  the  Pan- 
theon of  the  Phoenician  gods  with  the  names  of 
their  worshipers.  Some  years  ago  the  penin- 
sula of  Sinai,  explored  by  M.  Benedite,  supplied 
three  thousand  graffiti,  which  are  for  the  Naba- 
thean  region  what  the  Rabbat-Tanit  are  for 
Carthage.  Huber  bought  with  his  blood  the 
stele  of  Teima,  the  most  precious  monument  of 
northern  Arabia.  In  addition  to  the  exploring 
movement  which  had  its  centre  in  the  Institute, 
the  Corpus  received  the  support  of  Italian  archae- 
ologists in  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  of  Charles 
Doughty  in  northern  Arabia,  and  the  brilliant 
discoveries  of  the  German  mission  to  Zinjirli 
brought  into  the  limits  of  the  Corpus  regions 
which  it  had  not  expected  to  explore.  Thus  the 


230  ERNEST  KENAN. 

dimensions  of  the  monument  were  extended  in- 
definitely; doubtless  it  will  never  equal  in  size 
the  Greek  Corpus,  for  the  Semites  were  less  talk- 
ative than  the  Greeks,  and  their  most  ancient 
works  passed  through  more  eras  of  destruction. 
But  perhaps  it  will  be  a  more  potent  instrument 
of  investigation  and  resurrection,  since,  instead 
of  embracing  a  single  world  like  Bockh's  Cor- 
pus, it  extends  to  five  or  six  different  worlds,  — 
worlds  at  once  different  from  one  another  and 
closely  related. 

For  twenty  years  M.  Renan  was  the  inspirer 
of  the  Corpus  and  the  central  factor  in  its  la- 
bors. Although  he  had  eminent  collaborators 
and  his  special  part  was  chiefly  limited  to  Phoe- 
nicia, his  name  will  remain  attached  to  a  Cor- 
pus, the  idea  of  which  he  conceived,  the  plan 
of  which  he  traced,  and  which  he  brought  to 
realization.  The  lines  of  the  plan  are  great 
and  simple.  The  Corpus  comprehends  all  the 
ancient  texts  of  Semitic  tongues  expressed  in 
the  Semitic  alphabet  (this  excludes  the  cunei- 
form inscriptions,  which  are  the  subject  of  a 
special  Corpus).1  These  texts  are  classified  ac- 
cording to  the  language,  and  for  each  lan- 
guage, according  to  a  geographical  division. 
They  are  given  in  facsimile,  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  student  is  brought  as  directly  as  possi- 

1  Of  several  Corpora  rather :  the  most  important  is  that  in 
the  British  Museum. 


ERNEST  BENAN.  231 

ble  face  to  face  with  the  monument,  in  a  printed 
text  and  in  a  Hebrew  transcription.  This  is 
the  objective  part.  Then  comes  the  subjective 
part,  —  the  exposition  of  what  science  has  done, 
or  may  do,  with  these  materials.  It  comprises 
a  complete  bibliography  of  the  works  of  which 
each  text  has  been  the  subject;  a  translation, 
and  a  commentary  briefly  justifying  the  trans- 
lation, indicating  the  doubtful  points,  and  sum- 
ming up  succinctly  the  divergences  from  earlier 
translations  or  even  from  members  of  the  com- 
mission. This  commentary  is  to  be  as  sober  as 
possible,  and  it  will  shun  scientific  disserta- 
tion and  the  polemic  style.  Although  the  Cor- 
pus takes  sides,  since  it  gives  a  translation,  it 
remains  as  objective  as  possible,  even  upon  the 
shifting  ground  of  interpretation;  and  as  it 
places  the  student  face  to  face  with  the  matter 
to  be  interpreted,  so  it  brings  before  him  the 
previous  efforts  of  science  in  all  their  diversity, 
without  creating  an  orthodoxy  and  without  im- 
posing its  own  views.1 

1  The  Corpus  was  beg-un  independently  on  three  sides  at 
once.  Of  the  first  part,  devoted  to  Phoenician  inscriptions,  one 
complete  volume  has  appeared,  and  the  first  fasciculus  of  a 
second  volume,  comprising  905  inscriptions  (from  Phoenicia, 
Cyprus,  Egypt,  Greece,  Malta,  Sicily,  Corcyra,  Sardinia,  Cor- 
sica, Italy,  Marseilles,  and  Carthage).  The  progress  of  explo- 
ration is  so  active  that  the  fasciculus  containing  the  Egyptian 
inscriptions  was  hardly  published  when  it  was  left  behind  by 
the  discovery  of  some  thirty  Phoenician  graffiti  in  the  temple 
of  Abydos.  Of  the  Aramean  part,  under  the  direction  of  M.  de 


232  ERNEST  RENAN. 

The  single  fact  that  he  conceived,  organized, 
and  rendered  practicable  such  a  work  as  the 
Corpus  is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  super- 
ficiality of  the  criticism  that  would  make  of 
M.  Renan  a  dilettante  savant,  too  lordly  to 
trouble  himself  with  the  details  and  the  mi- 
nute cares  of  scholarship.  The  ordinary  critic 
cannot  understand  the  union  of  two  superiorities 
in  the  same  mind;  and  as  Renan  was,  above  all, 
a  synthetic  and  philosophic  genius,  such  critics 
refused  to  acknowledge  in  him  the  virtues  of 
the  scholar  enamored  of  detail,  who  knows  that 
the  single  circumstance,  the  minute  fact,  is  the 
foundation  of  science.  On  the  contrary,  we 
may  say  that  only  the  synthetic  genius  feels  and 
thoroughly  comprehends  the  value  of  details 
and  the  necessity  of  microscopic  analysis,  since 
he  knows  better  than  does  the  ordinary  scholar 
that  no  detail  is  insignificant,  that  not  an  atom 
may  be  safely  neglected,  and  that  a  debris  of 
stone,  a  half-effaced  stroke  of  a  letter,  and  a 
tattered  piece  of  papyrus,  may  reveal  the  secret 
of  the  whole.  So  M.  Kenan's  course  on  epi- 
graphy, at  the  College  de  France,  was  a  delu- 
sion and  a  snare  for  the  crowd  that  was  drawn 
thither  by  his  reputation.  I  remember  how  the 

Vogue1,  a  first  fasciculus  has  appeared  (with  149  inscriptions, 
from  Assyria,  Chaldea,  Asia  Minor,  Adarbaijan,  Greece,  Arabia, 
and  Egypt).     Of  the  Himyaritic  part,  under  M.  Derenbourg's 
supervision,  the  first  fasciculus  contains  69  inscriptions. 
[Several  other  parts  have  since  appeared.  —  ED.] 


ERNEST  BENAN.  233 

hour  was  spent  in  staring  at  a  certain  stroke 
of  a  letter  (was  it  Daleth,  or  was  it  Resh  ?)  in 
the  impressions  of  the  Nabathean  inscriptions 
brought  home  by  Charles  Doughty.  It  was 
in  this  course  that  the  Corpus  was  sketched; 
the  auditors  soon  dwindled  in  number,  but, 
sitting  round  the  little  table  in  Hall  IV.,  they 
formed,  so  to  speak,  the  first  public  and  the 
first  body  of  critics  of  the  great  work. 


in. 

Thus  far  I  have  said  nothing  concerning  the 
skepticism  which,  in  popular  estimation,  was 
one  of  M.  Kenan's  characteristics.  This  skep- 
ticism was  only  on  the  surface ;  it  had  no  exist- 
ence where  the  problems  which  go  to  make  the 
dignity  and  the  worth  of  life  were  concerned. 

M.  Challemel-Lacour,  whom  the  Academy 
saw  fit  to  choose  as  Kenan's  successor,  — a  man 
of  talent,  but  too  deeply  imbued  with  the  clas- 
sical and  the  political  spirit,  —  said  of  him : 
"  Renan  thinks  like  a  man,  feels  like  a  woman, 
and  acts  like  a  child."  Did  the  poor  young 
Breton  act  as  a  child  when  he  fled  from  St. 
Sulpice  because  he  believed  that  all  which  his 
masters  had  taught  him  was,  perhaps,  not  true  ? 
It  was,  perchance,  a  piece  of  childishness,  from 
the  worldly  point  of  view,  to  renounce  the 
splendid  future  that  awaited  him  in  the  church, 


234  ERNEST  BEN  AN. 

which  has  not  a  Renan  to  show  the  world  every 
day,  and  to  face  poverty,  without  resources, 
without  a  future,  sustained  only  by  the  convic- 
tion that  it  was  impossible  to  live  for  anything 
else  than  for  an  idea.  They  who  believe  that 
the  first  proof  of  manliness  is  to  be  sincere 
with  others,  and  with  one's  self,  will  think  that 
he  was  that  day  twice  a  man.  Did  he  act  as  a 
child,  or  as  a  man,  when  he  allowed  himself  to 
be  driven  from  the  chair  in  the  College  de 
France  which  had  been  the  supreme  object  of 
his  ambition,  rather  than  veil  with  one  politic 
word,  or  even  with  a  discreet  silence  (which  the 
authorities  would  have  accepted),  the  guiding 
faith  of  his  scholar's  conscience  and  the  asser- 
tion of  the  right  of  science,  respectful  but  in- 
dependent, to  penetrate  into  the  sanctuary  of 
religion?  The  letter  he  addressed  to  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  College  de  France,  in  regard  to 
the  suspension  of  his  lectures,  is  the  most  elo- 
quent and  forcible  vindication  of  the  rights 
of  human  thought  that  French  literature  can 
show  since  the  "Provincial  Letters  "  of  Pascal. 
Very  indulgent  to  his  fellow-men,  and  con- 
vinced that  few  of  the  things  about  which  they 
worry  are  worth  while,  there  is  one  about  which 
he  was  inflexible,  —  duty.  If  we  seek  for  the 
one  motive  of  his  active  life,  we  shall  find  it  in 
the  most  abstract  notion  of  duty.  This  man, 
who  of  all  the  virtues  of  St.  Sulpice  seemed  to 


ERNEST  BENAN.  235 

exemplify  politeness  above  every  other,  who 
seemed  always  to  seek  for  the  word  most  pleas- 
ing to  his  interlocutor,  whoever  he  might  be, 
and  who  often  carried  the  caresses  of  amiability 
to  a  point  where  it  seemed  to  assume  the  fea- 
tures of  irony,  —  this  man,  so  supple  and  pliant 
apparently,  as  soon  as  men  wished  to  draw  from 
him  a  word  or  an  act  affecting  his  inmost  con- 
science, became  a  bar  of  iron.  Parties  did  not 
love  him,  his  view  was  too  wide  for  them ; 
parties  like  only  men  who  wear  blinders  and 
have  committed  a  section  of  their  conscience 
to  their  chief.  Men  were  never  sure  of  him; 
he  escaped  just  as  they  felt  their  hold  secure : 
he  was  neither  republican  nor  royalist,  neither 
clerical  nor  anti-clerical,  neither  for  Caliban 
nor  against  him.  He  wished  to  see  a  France 
where  institutions  should  be  free,  where  the 
mind  too  should  be  free,  and  which,  instead  of 
wasting  in  the  vendettas  of  sectaries,  or  in  the 
pursuit  of  unrealizable  or  fatal  utopias,  the  im- 
measurable power  of  faith  and  devotion  in  which 
she  still  abounds,  should  consecrate  them  to  re- 
alizing before  the  whole  world  the  national  and 
human  ideal  which  she  has  confusedly  beheld, 
and  which  she  has  abandoned  to  the  hands  of 
the  conscienceless.  He  was  not  afraid  to  con- 
tradict himself,  feeling  deeply  that  in  the  an- 
archy of  contemporary  politics  it  was  things  and 
parties  which  were  contradicting  themselves, 


236  EBNEST  RENAN. 

and  not  he  who  followed  in  the  tempest  the 
unique,  wavering,  but  unextinguishable  light  of 
conscience. 

M.  Renan  was  bitterly  reproached  for  some 
imprudent  words  addressed  to  young  men. 
"Amuse  yourselves,"  he  said  to  the  students, 
not  thinking,  as  an  ingenuous  ascetic,  grown 
old  in  toil,  what  the  word  signifies  for  the  mass 
of  young  men,  and  remembering  only  that  he 
had  just  pressed  the  cold  hand  of  the  young 
and  noble  Stanislas  Guyard,  a  victim  of  science 
and  thought.  He  might  have  said,  but  he  did 
not  say:  "Look  at  me!  I  have  worked  long, 
slept  little,  and  played  scarce  at  all;  I  am  fa- 
mous and  poor,  old  and  still  in  harness;  I  have 
never  recoiled  before  the  most  difficult  duty;  I 
have  ever  set  the  Ideal  before  the  Real,  and  sac- 
rificed the  Present  to  that  Eternity  of  which  I 
cannot  conscientiously  recommend  the  evidence. 
Go  ye  and  do  likewise." 1  His  so-called  skepti- 
cism never  derided  the  principles  of  morality : 
it  bore  only  upon  the  product  of  human  thought, 
that  thought  of  which  he  was  the  apostle  and 
emancipator,  the  power  of  which  he  knew  and 
glorified,  but  the  slightness  of  which  before  the 
infinite  —  present,  past,  and  future  —  he  knew 
better  than  others,  since  he  thought  more. 
Morality  was  to  him  the  only  thing  absolutely 

1  "  Ernest  Renan,  A  Pastel : "  Mme.  Darmesteter  in   The 
Albemarle,  May,  1892. 


ERNEST  KENAN.  237 

certain.  "An  impenetrable  veil  hides  from  us 
the  secret  of  this  strange  world,  the  reality  of 
which  at  once  commands  and  overwhelms  us; 
philosophy  and  science  will  forever  pursue, 
without  attaining  it,  the  formula  of  this  Proteus 
whom  no  intelligence  can  limit  and  no  language 
can  express.  But  there  is  an  indubitable  foun- 
dation which  no  skepticism  will  shake,  and  in 
which  man  will  find,  to  the  end  of  time,  a  fixed 
point  in  all  his  uncertainties;  good  is  good; 
evil  is  evil.  To  hate  the  one  and  love  the 
other  no  system  is  needed,  and  in  this  sense 
faith  and  love,  apparently  unconnected  with  the 
intellect,  are  the  real  foundation  of  moral  cer- 
tainty and  the  only  means  man  has  for  compre- 
hending, in  some  degree,  the  problem  of  his 
origin  and  his  destiny."1  Kenan's  point  of 
departure  was  Kant's  point  of  arrival.  That 
categorical  imperative,  on  which  Kant  recon- 
structed his  metaphysic,  he  did  not  attain  by 
dint  of  analysis  and  dialectic ;  he  found  it  at  the 
very  basis  of  his  life,  in  hereditary  instincts, 
fortified  by  the  religious  discipline  of  his  youth, 
in  the  impossibility  of  desiring  aught  else  but 
the  good. 

We  can  thus  see  how  little  M.  Renan  is  un- 
derstood by  the  petty  philosophers  of  dilettan- 
teism  claiming  to  be  his  followers,  who  would 
shelter  their  moral  incapacity  and  their  egotism 

1  Essais  de  Morale  et  de  Critique. 


238  ERNEST  RENAN. 

behind  formulas  misunderstood  and  detached 
from  a  whole  scheme  of  life,  and  would  so  make 
the  world  a  prey  to  be  exploited  by  their  volup- 
tuous intellect  and  their  dainty  senses.  When, 
in  another  quarter,  our  neo-Christians  veil  their 
faces  before  Renanism,  they  forget  that  they 
are  only  faulty  pupils  of  M.  Renan,  and  that 
from  him  they  learned  the  rights  and  the  worth 
of  the  religious  sentiment;  one  thing,  however, 
they  should  also  have  learned  from  him  and 
comprehended,  —  that  the  first  condition  of  a 
religion  is  sincerity  and  spontaneity,  and  that 
faith  cannot  be  commanded. 

The  mistaken  judgments  passed  upon  M.  Re- 
nan  are  due  to  the  fact  that  in  his  work  he  did 
not  place  the  emphasis  upon  the  Good,  but  upon 
the  True.  Men  concluded  that  for  him,  therefore, 
science  was  the  whole  of  life.  The  environment 
in  which  he  was  formed  was  forgotten,  an  en- 
vironment in  which  the  moral  sense  was  exqui- 
site and  perfect,  while  the  scientific  sense  was 
nil.  He  did  not  need  to  discover  the  moral 
sense,  it  was  the  very  atmosphere  in  which  he 
lived.  When  the  scientific  sense  awoke  in  him, 
and  he  beheld  the  world  and  history  transfig- 
ured by  it,  he  was  dazzled,  and  the  influence 
lasted  throughout  his  life.  He  dreamed  of 
making  France  understand  this  new  revelation ; 
he  was  the  apostle  of  this  gospel  of  truth  and 
science,  but  in  heart  and  mind  he  never  at- 


ERNEST  RENAN.  239 

tacked  what_is  permanent  and  divine  in  the 
other  gospel.  Thus  he  was  a  complete  man, 
and  deserved  the  disdain  of  dilettantes  morally 
dead,  and  of  mystics  scientifically  atonic.1 

What  heritage  has  M.  Renan  left  to  poster- 
ity? As  a  scholar  he  created  religious  crit- 
icism in  France,  and  prepared  for  universal 
science  that  incomparable  instrument,  the  Cor- 
pus. As  an  author  he  bequeathed  to  universal 
art  pages  which  will  endure,  and  to  him  may  be 
applied  what  he  said  of  George  Sand :  "  He  had 
the  divine  faculty  of  giving  wings  to  his  sub- 
ject, of  producing  under  the  form  of  fine  art 
the  idea  which  in  other  hands  remained  crude 
and  formless."  As  a  philosopher  he  left  be- 
hind a  mass  of  ideas  which  he  did  not  care  to 

1  The  final  words  on  M.  Renan  were  spoken  in  these  English 
verses,  written  the  day  after  his  death :  — 

VERITATEM  DELEXI. 

Uf   MEMORIAL  —  ERNEST  BEX  AN. 

"  Troth  is  an  idol,"  spake  the  Christian  sage. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  worship  Truth  divorced  from  Love. 
Truth  is  but  God's  reflection  :  Look  above  ! " 
So  Pascal  wrote,  and  still  we  trace  the  page. 

"  Truth  is  divine,"  said  Plato,  "  but  on  high 
She  dwells,  and  few  may  be  her  ministers, 
For  Truth  is  sad  and  lonely  and  diverse ; 
Heal  thou  the  weakling  with  a  generous  lie  1 " 

But  thou  in  Truth  delightedst !  Thou  of  soul 
As  subtle-shimmering  as  the  rainbow  mist, 
And  still  in  all  her  service  didst  persist. 

For  no  One  truth  thou  lovedst,  but  the  Whole. 

MABY  DAKMESTETEB,  Retrospect,  1891. 


240  ERNEST  REN  AN. 

collect  in  doctrinal  shape,  but  which,  neverthe- 
less, constitute  a  coherent  whole.  One  thing 
only  in  this  world  is  certain,  —  duty.  One 
truth  is  plain  in  the  course  of  the  world  as  sci- 
ence reveals  it:  the  world  is  advancing  to  a 
higher,  more  perfect  form  of  being.  The  su- 
preme happiness  of  man  is  to  draw  nearer  to 
this  God  to  come,  contemplating  Him  in  sci- 
ence, and  preparing,  by  action,  the  advent  of  a 
humanity  nobler,  better  endowed,  and  more 
akin  to  the  ideal  Being. 


AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  HISTOEY  OF 
THE  JEWS. 

I. 

THE  time  is  still  distant  for  attempting  a 
complete  history  of  the  Jewish  people,  pursued 
through  the  entire  course  of  its  development 
from  its  origin  up  to  the  present  time,  and 
covering  every  phase  of  this  development,  in 
religion,  in  philosophy,  in  language,  in  litera- 
ture, and  in  the  hazards  of  its  material  fortunes. 

In  the  revival  of  historical  science,  which 
constitutes  one  of  the  glories  of  our  century, 
the  place  accorded  to  the  history  of  the  Jewish 
people  will  grow  in  importance  from  day  to 
day  in  proportion  as  the  coordination  of  dis- 
jointed discoveries  permits  a  clearer  view  of  the 
outlines  of  the  development  of  Aryo-Semitic 
humanity.  The  historian's  special  interest  in 
the  Jewish  nation  is  due  to  its  being  the  only 
one  that  is  met  with  at  every  turn  of  history. 
In  folio  whig  the  course  of  this  nation's  desti- 
nies, he  is  successively  brought  into  contact 
with  nearly  all  the  great  civilizations,  and  with 
nearly  all  the  great  religious  ideas  that  have 
left  their  impress  on  the  civilized  world,  from 


242      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

the  dawn  of  history  up  to  the  present  time. 
He  sees  in  turn,  in  Israel's  path,  nomadic  and 
polytheistic  tribes  of  primitive  Semites,  Egypt 
and  her  priesthood,  Syria  and  her  gods,  Nineveh 
and  Babylon,  Cyrus  and  the  Magi,  Greece  and 
Alexander,  Alexandria  and  her  schools,  Rome 
and  her  legions,  Jesus  and  the  Evangelists. 
Later,  when,  upon  the  destruction  of  the  na- 
tional unity,  the  Jews  are  scattered  into  the 
four  quarters  of  the  world,  the  historian  who 
follows  them  into  Arabia,  into  Egypt,  into 
Africa,  and  into  all  the  countries  of  Western 
Europe,  beholds  the  panorama  of  Mahomet  and 
Islam,  of  Aristotle,  of  the  Scholastics  and  their 
philosophy,  of  all  the  science  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  its  commerce,  of  the  Humanists  and 
the  Renaissance,  of  the  Reformation  and  the 
Revolution. 

Thus  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people  com- 
prises and  implies  that  of  the  entire  Mediter- 
ranean world  from  beginning  to  end,  rarely 
entering,  and  only  by  accident,  into  the  political 
and  material  aspects  of  history,  but  concerned 
with  the  ideas,  the  religions,  the  social  factors, 
in  short  with  the  living  forces  of  humanity. 
The  history  of  all  other  nations,  even  of  those 
exercising  the  longest  and  most  remote^  in- 
fluence, covers  only  a  single  epoch  and  a  single 
place.  Each  one  appears  and  disappears;  its 
part  was  played  in  a  single  period,  its  history  is 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.       243 

exclusively  its  own.  The  Jewish  people,  en- 
during through  all  times,  has  helped  to  shape 
all  great  events  that  have  had  their  day :  it  is 
a  perpetual  and  universal  witness  of  all  these 
dramas,  and  by  no  means  an  inactive  or  mute 
witness,  but  closely  identified  with  them  in  ac- 
tion or  in  suffering.  Twice  it  remodeled  the 
world,  —  the  European  world  through  Jesus, 
the  Oriental  world  through  Islam,  not  to  speak 
of  an  influence  slower  and  more  hidden,  but 
none  the  less  powerful,  nor  perhaps  less  lasting, 
that  it  exercised  in  the  Middle  Ages  upon  the 
formation  of  modern  thought. 

This  great  history  could  not  have  been  at- 
tempted, nor  even  conceived,  before  this  cen- 
tury, because  of  two  necessary  conditions  that 
are  only  beginning  to  be  realized  in  our  day, 
the  one  of  a  moral,  the  other  of  a  material 
character.  On  the  one  hand,  as  this  history 
is,  above  all,  religious,  and  as  a  consequence 
involves,  in  the  present  state  of  the  human 
mind,  a  perpetual  appeal  to  the  most  irritable 
of  all  the  passions,  it  was  necessary  for  liberty 
of  thought  not  only  to  become  a  part  of  law 
and  custom,  but,  what  is  much  more  difficult, 
to  find  an  echo  in  the  mind  of  the  scholar.  It 
was  necessary  for  research  to  be  freed  from  the 
corruption  of  sectarianism  or  of  philosophical 
system,  and  for  the  history  of  religion  to  cease 
to  be  a  battlefield.  Not  yet  have  all  those 


244      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

engaged  in  these  studies  reached  that  degree 
of  serene  impartiality  where  facts  are  studied 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  being  understood,  and 
where  thought  is  carried  to  a  height  that  will 
not  permit  of  conclusions  dictated  in  advance 
by  the  ephemeral  prejudices  of  politics,  of  faith, 
or  of  metaphysics.  Some,  however,  have 
reached  this  eminence,  and  they  suffice  to  in- 
sure the  continuance  of  science. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  succession  of  remark- 
able and  unexpected  discoveries  was  required 
to  fill  up  the  gaps  of  Jewish  history,  and  to 
illumine  its  innumerable  obscurities.  The  three 
great  periods  of  this  history  —  the  first  extending 
from  its  origin  to  the  Return  from  the  Exile, 
the  second  from  the  Return  from  the  Exile  to 
the  Dispersion,  the  third  from  the  Dispersion 
to  the  French  Revolution  —  were  all  repre- 
sented only  by  incomplete  or  inaccessible  docu- 
ments. For  the  first  period  we  had  but  one 
book,  the  Bible,  the  work  of  ages,  composed  of 
fragments,  of  detached  leaflets,  where  often  a 
line,  a  word,  is  all  that  remains  of  a  century. 
For  the  second  period  there  was  nothing  but 
the  Talmudic  chaos,  which  the  Jews  alone  were 
able  to  fathom,  and  in  which  they  sought  only 
subjects  for  edification  and  casuistry,  and  not 
historical  instruction.  For  the  third  period, 
finally,  there  was  the  immense  quantity  of  writ- 
ings of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  great  part  for- 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      245 

gotten  by  the  Jews  themselves,  and  buried 
in  the  dust  of  libraries.  The  situation  was 
changed  by  a  double  movement  proceeding  from 
within  and  from  without;  from  within  through 
the  application  of  the  historic  method,  by  Jew- 
ish scholars,  to  the  direct  study  of  the  Jewish 
sources ;  from  without  through  the  discovery  of 
non-Jewish  sources,  throwing  light  upon  and 
complementing  the  Jewish  sources. 

In  this  way  a  whole  series  of  new  sciences, 
creations  of  yesterday,  Assyriology,  Egyptology, 
Phrenician  epigraphy,  have  been  placed  at  the 
service  of  biblical  interpretation,  which  rewards 
them  in  turn.  Babylon  and  Nineveh  rise  up 
out  of  the  ground,  and  with  their  great  pages 
of  history,  inscribed  by  their  Shalnianesers, 
Sennacheribs,  and  Nebuchadnezzars,  add  their 
testimony  to  the  Book  of  Kings  and  to  the  pro- 
phets.1 Egypt  reveals  the  secret  of  her  hiero- 
glyphics, and  a  new  column  of  fire  comes  to 
illumine  .the  Exodus 2  of  the  Hebrews.  Punic 
soil  brings  us  a  commentary  of  Leviticus,  coun- 
tersigned by  the  Suffetes  of  Carthage.3  The 
Pho3nician  and  Syrian  Pantheon  is  revealed 
through  fragments  of  engraved  stones,  and  fur- 
nishes all  the  Astartes  and  Baals  that  fought 

1  Rawlinson,  Oppert,  Hatevy,  Schroder,  Lenormant,  Smith, 
etc. 

2  Brugsch,  Chabas,  Leipsius,  Mariette,  Maspe"ro,  etc. 

3  Munk.     Suffetes   is  the  Phoenician  title   for  governor  — 
equivalent  to  the  Hebrew  shophetim  (judges).  — ED. 


246      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

against  Elohim.1  The  worn-out  soil  of  Judea 
produces  a  triumphal  hymn  of  Moab,  written 
in  the  days  of  Elisha,  which  the  prophet  him- 
self may  have  read ; 2  it  is  the  war-cry  of  bibli- 
cal combatants  reaching  our  ears  from  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty-seven  centuries,  the  very  cry  of 
the  "Wars  of  the  Eternal." 

Coming  to  the  second  period,  it  has  been 
ascertained,  upon  clearing  up  the  chaos  of  Tal- 
mudic  literature,3  —  the  Mishna  and  Gemara 
with  their  innumerable  supplements,  —  that  this 
immense  compilation,  made  without  order  and 
without  a  shadow  of  historical  thought,  offers 
an  inexhaustible  mine  for  history.  By  means 
of  it  we  may  follow  the  development  of  the 
Jewish  mind,  and  up  to  a  certain  point  the  Ori- 
ental mind,  for  more  than  six  centuries,  to  the 
very  period  that  saw  the  birth  of  Christianity, 
and  that  thus  became  one  of  the  decisive  mo- 
ments of  civilization,  one  of  the  turning-points 
of  history.  At  the  same  time,  the  mass  of 
works  produced  by  lay  or  theological  science, 
by  Catholics  and  Protestants,  bearing  on  the 
origin  of  Christianity,  have  carried  the  Chris- 
tian problem  to  its  Jewish  source,  and  have 
demonstrated  the  double  proposition  that  the 

1  Movers,  E.  Renan,  Vogue1,  Clermont-Ganneau,  Berger,  etc. 

2  The  Moabite  stone  —  at  present  in  the  Salle  Judaique  of 
the  Louvre. 

3  Rappaport,  Geiger,   Derenbourg,   Frankel,  Jost,  Graetz, 
Fiirst,  Zunz,  etc. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      247 

birth  of  Christianity  cannot  be  understood 
without  a  knowledge  of  the  Judaism  of  the  first 
century,  nor  can  Judaism  be  comprehended  in 
all  its  phases  without  a  knowledge  of  that 
branch  of  it  which  passes  under  the  name 
of  primitive  Christianity.1  The  gains  made 
through  the  scientific  investigation  of  the  origin 
of  Christianity  have  accrued  to  the  advantage 
of  Jewish  history  as  well.  By  the  side  of  the 
Talmudical  is  ranged  that  vast  apocryphal 
literature  which  is  being  daily  enriched  by  new 
discoveries,  and  the  character  of  which  is  so 
vague  that  one  is  often  in  doubt  as  to  whether 
one  has  to  do  with  the  work  of  a  Jew  or  of  a 
Christian.2 

In  the  third  period,  covering  the  Dispersion, 
the  investigation  of  the  destiny  of  the  Jewish 
people  branches  out  in  many  directions.  In 
each  of  these  branches  we  find  the  same  enlarge- 
ment of  scope  through  the  unexpected  encounter 
of  two  worlds.  The  work  of  investigating  this 
period  was  all  left  for  our  day.  It  involved  on 
the  one  hand  the  recovery  and  the  study  of  all 
the  various  works  covering  the  extended  do- 
main of  Jewish  history  during  the  entire  Mid- 
dle Ages.3  On  the  other  hand  it  necessitated 

1  See  Schiirer's  History  of  the  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

2  The  Sibylline  Oracles,  the  fourth  book  of  Ezra,  the  Assump- 
tion of  Moses,  the  Psalter  of  Solomon,  Book  of  Enoch,  etc. 

8  Zunz,  Neubauer,  Loeb,  etc. 


248      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

the  detailed  study  of  the  various  Mahommedan 
or  Christian  peoples  with  whom  the  Jews  were 
thrown  into  contact.  This  work  has  but  barely 
begun.  The  process  of  joining  these  two  worlds 
is  still  going  on;  and  as  one  penetrates  the 
deeper  into  their  history,  one  recognizes  more 
and  more  how  impossible  it  is  to  separate  them, 
or  to  understand  the  one  without  the  other. 
The  historian  of  the  Jewish  people  is  forced  to 
become  the  historian  of  the  Arabs  or  of  Europe ; 
and  the  historian  of  the  Arabs  or  of  Europe 
finds  in  almost  all  the  great  changes  of  thought 
a  Jewish  influence,  whether  striking  and  visible 
or  silent  and  latent. 

In  this  way  Jewish  history  accompanies  uni- 
versal history  throughout  its  entire  range,  and 
is  closely  interwoven  with  it.  On  this  account 
it  opens  to  investigation  a  field  of  infinite  vari- 
ety, and  at  the  same  time  of  complete  unity, 
giving  to  historical  psychology  an  interest  that 
no  other  history  affords  in  the  same  degree.  It 
furnishes  the  longest  series  of  experiences  yet 
recorded,  affecting  in  the  most  diverse  sur- 
roundings one  and  the  same  recognized  and 
constant  human  force.  Let  us  present  rapidly 
some  of  the  most  important  problems  of  this 
history. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      249 

II. 

A  nomadic  tribe  belonging  to  the  Semitic  race, 
and  nomadic  in  its  origin,  after  extended  migra- 
tions across  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia,  Syria, 
and  Egypt,  fixed  its  permanent  abode  near 
the  Phoenicians,  among  the  peoples  of  Canaan. 
Obscure  as  the  material  history  of  the  He- 
brews during  this  period  is,  their  religious  his- 
tory is  even  more  so;  for,  while  it  is  possible 
to  follow  the  course  of  their  migrations  by  means 
of  legends  that  have  been  preserved,  no  distinct 
trace  has  remained  of  the  progress  of  their 
thought.  All  that  is  certain  and  generally  rec- 
ognized is,  that  primitively  they  were  idolaters 
and  polytheists,  as  were  all  the  branches  of  the 
race  to  which  they  belonged.  But  it  is  not 
possible  to  determine  the  especial  traits  of  their 
mythology,  nor,  in  the  various  epochs  of  this 
first  period,  in  what  respects  it  resembled  and 
in  what  it  differed  from  the  mythology  of  their 
Semitic  brethren.  What  were  their  beliefs  and 
their  forms  of  worship  before  entering  Egypt? 
What  did  they  leave  in  Egypt,  and  what  did 
they  carry  with  them  thence  ?  Finally,  to  what 
extent  did  they  borrow  in  Canaan  from  the  re- 
ligion of  the  surrounding  nations  with  whom 
they  were  brought  into  contact  through  friend- 
ship or  hatred?  If  the  Bible  is  ever  to  give  a 
clear  answer  to  these  questions,  it  will  only  be 


250      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

after  Egypt  has  spoken  her  last  word,  when  the 
comparative  history  of  Semitic  religions  shall 
be  definitely  established  upon  a  basis  of  chron- 
ological data,  and  when,  through  the  labor  of 
generations  of  epigraphists,  the  entire  body  of 
witnesses  still  buried  at  Carthage,  Nineveh, 
Hamath,  Sheba,  and  throughout  the  entire  ex- 
tent of  the  old  Semitic  soil,  shall  be  made  to 
speak. 

Once  established  in  Palestine  and  constituted 
a  nation,  the  primitive  idolatry  undergoes  a 
gradual  transformation  parallel  to  the  political 
change.  The  Hebrews,  as  they  become  a  na- 
tion, secure  a  national  god,  make  a  contract  with 
him,  set  him  up  in  opposition  to  the  national 
gods  of  the  neighboring  nations.  This  national 
god,  this  Elohim,  does  not  as  yet  differ  essen- 
tially from  his  neighbors,  either  in  the  attri- 
butes that  were  accorded  him,  or  in  the  man- 
ner of  his  worship.  He  does  not  yet  involve 
the  rejection  of  other  gods;  he  is  not  yet  the 
god  of  the  world;  he  is  but  the  god  of  Israel. 
When  did  his  transformation  begin?  Was  it 
at  the  moment  when  Israel  became  conscious  of 
her  personal  existence,  the  time  of  the  Exodus? 
Or  was  it  when  her  national  existence  was  es- 
tablished through  the  kingdom?  Is  the  name 
of  Moses,  closely  linked  by  Israel's  historical 
souvenirs  to  the  departure  from  Egypt  and  to 
the  first  organization  of  the  nation,  to  be  also 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      251 

associated  with  the  first  step  in  her  religious 
transformation?  Or  is  it  only  after  the  reli- 
gious evolution  was  complete  that  the  profound 
instinct  of  legend  connected  Moses  with  the 
beginnings  of  the  political  evolution  that  started 
Israel  upon  its  career?  However  this  may 
be,  the  religious  evolution  was  a  slow  pro- 
cess, extending  over  centuries.  The  entire  his- 
tory of  the  kingdom  resolves  itself  into  a  con- 
tinuous struggle,  often  bloody,  between  the 
national  god  and  foreign  gods,  which  are  for 
a  long  time 1  merely  by-names  for  the  national 
party  and  the  foreign  party.  This  struggle, 
with  which  the  great  names  of  ancient  prophecy 
are  connected,2  ends  in  the  victory  of  the  He- 
brew god  about  the  time  of  the  fall  of  the  king- 
dom. The  national  god  triumphs  at  the  moment 
when  the  nation  which  should  be  the  object  of 
his  care  perishes.  But  at  this  very  time,  upon 
the  approach  of  the  catastrophe,  the  god  him- 
self undergoes  a  profound  change.  He  is  no 
longer  a  mere  national  god,  in  the  manner  of 
others,  conceived  and  adored  as  Chemosh  or 
Milcom  might  be.  Had  he  been  a  mere  na- 
tional god,  a  Chemosh  of  Israel,  a  Milcom  of 
Judah,  the  downfall  of  his  people  must  needs 
be  regarded  as  a  betrayal  of  his  trust;  and  the 

1  Until  Babylon  comes  upon  the  scene. 

2  Prophets  whose  names  only  remain,  the  greatest  of  which 
are  Samuel  and  Elijah. 


252      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

king  of  Babylon,  in  advancing  his  chariots  to 
the  very  walls  of  Jerusalem,  might  properly 
have  echoed,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  the 
words  of  the  Assyrian:  "Be  not  deceived  by 
the  promises  of  thy  god!  Where  are  the  kings 
of  Arpad,  of  Hamath,  of  Sepharvai'm?  Where 
is  the  nation  whose  god  has  ever  saved  it  from  my 
hands?"  The  god  of  Israel,  exalted  through 
the  very  defeat  of  his  people,  becomes  the  uni- 
versal god,  the  one  god,  the  god  of  the  Deca- 
logue, the  god  of  Isaiah  and  the  prophets.  He 
remains,  it  is  true,  the  god  of  Israel,  since  he 
revealed  himself  to  Israel  alone  and  Israel  alone 
has  divined  him;  but  he  is  the  god,  with  none 
beside.  He  is  no  longer  the  jealous  god  of 
the  first  Mosaism,  who  hungers  for  victims  and 
offerings,  and  punishes  the  faults  of  the  fathers 
unto  the  fourth  generation.  He  is  the  god  of 
justice  and  of  love,  who  looks  for  pure  hearts 
and  not  for  full  hands,  who  has  a  horror  of 
sacrifices  and  the  posturings  of  the  cult,1  and 
who  no  longer  desires  it  to  be  said:  "The 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes  and  the  chil- 
dren's teeth  are  set  on  edge."2  And  since  the 
nation  which  sought  him  and  found  him  is  op- 
pressed and  bleeding,  he  has  undoubtedly  re- 
served a  striking  and  magnificent  reparation 
for  it  hi  the  future.  The  very  people  who 

1  Isaiah  i. 

2  Ezekiel  xviii. ;  Jeremiah 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      253 

crushed  Judah  will  come  one  day  to  receive  the 
truth  from  her  hands.  Happiness  and  justice 
will  reign  supreme  throughout  the  entire  world 
in  the  name  of  the  god  of  Israel.  It  is  thus 
that  during  the  Exile,  in  foreign  surroundings, 
the  historical  mission  of  Israel,  in  obedience 
to  the  spirit  of  Isaiah,  of  Jeremiah,  of  Eze- 
kiel,  and  of  a  chorus  of  prophets,  begins  its 
career.  Her  great  dogma  is  found,  and  her 
great  hope  realized;  for  the  one  God  is  created 
and  Messianism  is  born. 

During  the  Exile,  and  upon  the  Keturn  from 
the  Exile,  this  new  and  universal  element  is 
blended  with  the  ancient  and  national  one,  and 
the  religion  of  Israel  takes  its  definite  form, 
—  Judaism.  Of  its  ancient  national  elements 
there  remain  the  rites,  the  ceremonies,  the  spe- 
cial observances,  a  bizarre  legacy  from  old  Se- 
mitic idolatry,  now  imbued  with  a  new  meaning 
through  the  religious  transformation.  At  first 
the  sign  of  alliance  of  the  Hebrew  with  his  god, 
it  became  finally  the  sign  of  recognition  between 
Jew  and  Jew,  the  bond  of  unity  in  the  ruins  of 
nationality.  It  is  the  element  which  isolates 
and  at  the  same  time  preserves  Israel.  A  new 
and  universal  element,  the  prophetic,  provides 
the  two  ideas  with  which  the  world  is  to  be  re- 
constructed. Thus  a  religion  is  produced,  at 
once  the  narrowest  and  broadest  of  all,  —  com- 
plete isolation  in  its  cult,  unlimited  expansion 


254      ON  THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

in  its  idea  —  through  the  latter  more  strong  to 
act,  in  that  the  former  enables  it  resolutely  to 
preserve  its  existence  —  an  excellent  condition 
for  endurance  and  activity,  and  for  converting 
the  world  to  its  principles,  without  allowing  it- 
self to  be  ensnared  by  such  concessions  as  propa- 
gandism  might  find  it  expedient  to  make. 

From  this  time  the  Jewish  people  alone, 
among  all  the  surrounding  nations,  have  a  phi- 
losophy of  history  to  guide  them  in  their  course 
through  the  world,  a  rational  plan  in  the  drama 
of  the  universe  which  is  unfolded  according  to 
a  fixed  law,  and  which  will  culminate  for  the 
good  of  all.  Thus,  through  the  successive  domi- 
nations of  Babylonia,  of  Persia,  Greece,  Egypt, 
Rome,  whose  waves  pass  over  Israel  and  bear  it 
down  without  engulfing  it,  a  religious  nation- 
ality is  formed  that  will  survive  the  ephemeral 
resurrection  of  political  nationality  under  the 
Maccabees.  It  was  just  at  this  time  that  the 
ancient  world,  grown  weary  of  its  worn-out  gods 
and  impotent  systems,  seeking  a  higher  system 
of  morality  than  its  priests  could  give,  and  of 
broader  hopes  than  its  philosophers  dared  offer, 
was  prepared  to  receive  the  first  suggestion  of 
faith  and  hope,  come  from  what  quarter  it 
might,  to  fill  the  sad  void  in  its  conscience. 
The  final  throes  of  Judah,  endeavoring  to  give 
birth  to  its  Messiah  and  to  bring  in  the  times 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      255 

predicted  by  the  prophets,  give  to  the  world  the 
necessary  impetus.  Among  the  ephemeral  Mes- 
siahs that  appear  and  disappear  upon  the  pro- 
phetic scene,  there  was  one  who  left  so  profound 
an  impression  upon  some  of  the  Jews,  who 
knew  him  closely,  that  they,  instead  of  con- 
tinuing to  say,  as  did  their  brethren,  "The 
Messiah  is  coming,"  began  to  say,  "The  Mes- 
siah is  come,"  and,  when  he  was  dead,  "The 
Messiah  has  come ;  he  was  killed ;  he  will  come 
again  to  judge  the  dead  and  the  living." 

This  belief  and  this  expectation  had  little 
hold  upon  the  mass  of  Jews,  absorbed  as  they 
were  in  the  dream  of  an  earthly  kingdom,  who 
knew  too  clearly  what  they  desired,  and  what 
they  were  awaiting,  to  accept  in  exchange  a 
mere  idle  hope.  But  these  beliefs  exercised  a 
marvelous  influence  upon  the  foreign  masses, 
to  whom  they  carried  the  good  tidings  that  evil 
had  ceased,  that  a  wonderful  Being,  all  justice 
and  mildness,  had  caused  peace  and  happiness 
to  reign.  These  were  stirred  with  the  desire  to 
preach  the  morality  of  Hillel  and  the  Hagga- 
dists,  of  which  the  priests  of  Jupiter  had  never 
dreamed,  and  which  was  neither  included  in  the 
scheme  of  the  pedants  of  the  schools,  nor  in  that 
of  the  haughty  representatives  of  the  Porch.1 

1  The  School  of  the  Stoics  —  so  called  from  one  of  the  pub- 
lic porticoes  on  the  Agora  of  ancient  Athens  where  the  Stoic 
philosophers  were  wont  to  meet.  —  ED. 


256      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

In  the  course  of  time,  in  proportion  as  reality 
forced  the  Christians  to  remove  the  most  beauti- 
ful part  of  their  hope  to  a  far-distant  future, 
the  person  of  Jesus  and  the  part  played  by  him 
underwent  a  transformation  that  widened  the 
abyss  between  him  and  Israel.  And  the  Chris- 
tian Jews,  turning  to  the  Bible  to  justify  their 
faith,  after  having  explained  the  Bible  by  Jesus, 
ended  in  explaining  Jesus  by  the  Bible.  In 
this  way,  by  means  of  symbolical  interpreta- 
tions, they  changed  Jesus  into  an  ideal  type. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Christian  Gentiles 
adapted  the  new  faith  to  the  surroundings  in 
which  it  had  grown  through  the  daily  increas- 
ing addition  of  elements  from  the  mytholo- 
gies of  Greece  and  Syria  and  the  metaphysics 
of  the  time.  From  this  resulted  a  mixed  re- 
ligion, a  compromise  between  the  past  and  the 
future,  which  conquered  the  world,  bringing  to 
it  an  abundance  of  good  and  much  of  evil,  — 
an  abundance  of  good,  because  it  raised  the 
moral  standard  of  humanity;  much  of  evil, 
because  it  arrested  its  intellectual  growth  by 
rejuvenating  the  mythical  spirit,  and  by  fixing 
for  centuries  the  metaphysical  ideal  of  Europe 
in  accordance  with  the  dreams  of  Alexandrine 
decadence,  and  with  the  last  combinations  of 
Hellenism  in  its  dotage.  The  history  of  Chris- 
tianity is  a  part  of  Jewish  history  up  to  the  time 
when  this  mythical  and  metaphysical  element 


OiV  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      257 

obtained  the  ascendency,  —  the  time  of  the  defi- 
nite rupture  between  the  two  churches ;  the  day, 
in  short,  when  Christianity  ceased  to  be  a  Jew- 
ish heresy,  to  take  its  place  as  a  new  branch  of 
the  old  Aryo-Semitic  mythology. 

There  is  thus  imposed  on  the  historian  a 
double  task,  —  to  study  Judaism  both  within 
the  Jewish  people  and  outside  of  it.  Each  of 
these  tasks  meets  with  endless  ramifications. 
Moreover,  it  is  often  difficult  to  determine  the 
limit  of  the  second  of  these  tasks ;  for  the  line 
that  separates  the  exclusively  Jewish  fact  from 
the  exclusively  Christian  fact  is  fluctuating  and 
variable,  and  it  is  given  to  science  alone  to 
reach  a  decision  on  every  point  of  dogma  and 
of  worship.  To  study  Judaism  from  within  is 
a  task  of  a  more  precise  and  definite  character. 
In  the  front  of  the  stage  we  observe  the  innu- 
merable vicissitudes  of  the  political  drama,  from 
the  Exile  to  the  definite  loss  of  independence, 
embracing  the  Renaissance  under  Cyrus  and 
the  Achemenidians ;  the  beginnings  of  expansion 
beyond  Palestinian  confines  under  Alexander; 
the  establishment  of  colonies  at  Alexandria,  in 
Egypt,  and  in  the  islands  of  the  Mediterranean ; 
the  struggles  against  the  Seleucida3;  the  na- 
tional revival  under  the  Maccabees;  the  first 
alliances  and  the  first  struggles  with  Eome;  the 
follies  of  the  civil  war;  Herod  and  the  Hero- 


258      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

dians ;  Jerusalem  hurling  defiance  at  Rome,  and 
for  four  years  crushing  the  forces  of  the  empire 
at  the  feet  of  her  walls;  the  ruin  of  the  Holy 
City,  the  temple  in  flames,  and  the  last  agony 
at  Bethar.  Behind  the  political  there  is  the 
spiritual  drama,  —  the  encounter  of  the  Jewish 
mind  with  the  foreign  mind  of  Chaldea,  of  Per- 
sia, and  of  Greece ;  its  introduction  of  elements 
taken  from  the  religions  of  some,  its  incursions 
into  the  philosophy  of  others;  the  formation 
within  Judaism  of  a  secondary  mythology,  sub- 
ordinated to  a  strict  monotheism  that  dominates 
everything,  and  in  which  are  combined  in  vari- 
able proportions  the  souvenirs  of  the  ancient 
national  mythology,  older  elements  introduced 
from  Syria  and  Babylon  before  and  during  the 
Exile,  and  the  more  recent  Babylonian  and  Per- 
sian elements  added  after  the  Exile.  There  fol- 
lows the  initiation  of  Judaism  into  the  Greek 
philosophy  and  its  reactions  upon  the  latter,  the 
birth  of  Jewish  Hellenism,  and  the  Bible  recon- 
ciled with  Plato,  leading  to  the  division  of  sects 
and  of  schools;  on  the  one  hand  the  aristocratic 
religion  of  the  Sadducees,  on  the  other  the 
democratic  and  progressive  religion  of  the 
Pharisees;  and  thirdly,  the  ascetic  and  renun- 
ciatory religion  of  the  Essenes.  The  next  step 
involves  the  traditional  development  of  fixed 
law,  the  rabbis  taking  up,  in  their  scholastic 
discussions,  the  work  of  salvation  where  the 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      259 

manufacturers  of  apocalypses  and  the  thrusts  of 
the  stiffnecked  had  failed.  Finally,  there  are 
the  successors  of  the  Messianists  and  of  the 
zealots,  building  around  the  sacred  Book,  in  de- 
fiance of  Roman  torches,  that  triple  impregnable 
wall  —  the  Talmud.  In  the  sixth  century  of 
our  era  is  completed  the  immense  encyclopaedia 
which  embraces  with  absolute  impartiality  all 
variety  of  opinions,  in  all  the  branches  of 
science  and  of  belief,  that  were  formulated  dur- 
ing a  period  of  six  centuries  in  the  schools  of 
Palestine  and  Babylonia.  It  is  a  work  without 
apparent  unity,  since  it  reproduces  the  infinite 
contrast  presented  by  the  thousands  of  minds  of 
which  it  is  the  sum  total.  In  turn,  according 
to  the  voice  that  speaks,  it  manifests  a  strange 
narrowmindedness  by  the  side  of  unequaled 
breadth,  now  dull  and  again  brilliant ;  open  to 
science  and  closed  to  it;  presenting  all  the 
timidities  of  thought  and  all  its  audacities;  but 
penetrated  throughout  by  a  spirit  of  faith  and  of 
hope  that  brings  unity  into  this  chaos,  —  faith 
in  the  one  God,  and  hope  for  justice  to  come. 
The  superficial  mind  often  saw  nothing  more  in 
this  book  than  the  babble  of  refined  casuistry, 
of  a  reasoning  and  subtle  superstition.  It 
failed  to  perceive  the  vital  force  in  consequence 
of  which  Jewish  thought  was  enabled  to  pass 
through  the  intellectual  night  of  the  Middle 
Ages  without  being  extinguished.  This  vitality 


260      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

consisted  in  the  profound  conviction  that  the 
cult  does  not  constitute  the  whole  of  Judaism, 
that  it  is  but  the  external  and  transitory  sign, 
a  material  and  conventional  symbol,  recognized 
by  those  to  whom  the  truth  had  been  intrusted, 
but  absolutely  distinct  from  this  truth  itself, 
which  is  eternal  and  universal,  which  is  the  all 
in  all,  and  which  is  destined  some  day  to  be- 
come the  common  property  of  mankind.  The 
pregnant  thought  of  this  book,  devoted  as  it  is 
almost  exclusively  to  the  preservation  of  the 
cult,  is  that  the  cult  is  transitory,  and  that, 
when  Jewish  truths  shall  be  universally  recog- 
nized, Jewish  rites  will  cease.1  It  is  this  fertile 
idea,  explicitly  conveyed  by  the  rabbis  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  that  assures  the  proscribed  caste 
the  boon  of  thought  at  a  time  when  all  light 
is  extinguished,  and  when,  from  one  end  of 
Europe  to  the  other,  the  church  enthrones  the 
Christian  order  in  deadened  intellects.  Let  the 
Dispersion  come ;  moral  unity  is  established  and 
life  assured. 

This  unity  is  so  strong  that  the  work  which 
consecrates  it  in  a  definite  and  lasting  fashion 
conies,  not  from  Jerusalem,  but  from  foreign 
lands,  from  the  schools  of  Babylonia.2  It  is 

1  Even  before  this  time,  the  Jew  could,  in  times  of  persecu- 
tion, or  in  case  of  danger,  consider  himself  released  from  all 
the  precepts  of  the  law  save  three  ;  namely,  those  prohibiting 
idolatry,  impurity,  and  homicide.     Maimonides. 

2  The  Talmud  of  Jerusalem  was  not  widespread,  and  counted 
for  little  in  the  development  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      261 

thence  that  the  Talmud  comes  and  makes  its 
way  to  the  Dispersed  Jews,  and  the  precepts  of 
the  Amordim  of  the  Euphrates  become  the  law 
of  their  brethren  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile 
to  those  of  the  Aude.  Some,  as  the  Karaites, 
wished  to  escape  from  this  yoke,  and  turned 
back  to  the  Bible  as  the  one  law.  Through 
their  failure  to  see  that  Judaism  was  not  a  fixed 
and  immutable  religion,  but  a  progressive  and 
ever-changing  one,  their  revolt  against  the  yoke 
of  Talmudical  Judaism  ended  only  in  protracted 
suicide.  In  the  attempt  to  suppress  six  centu- 
ries of  their  past  existence  they  were  condemned 
to  break  with  the  future,  with  the  result  of  be- 
ing excluded  from  a  part  in  intellectual  move- 
ments. Despite  the  talent  shown  by  its  first 
adherents,  and  after  a  brief  period  of  expansion 
due  to  its  apparent  liberalism,  Karai'sm  lan- 
guishes in  a  condition  of  sterility  and  impotence. 

We  now  enter  the  third  period,  that  of  the 
Dispersion,  a  period  which,  moreover,  does  not 
begin  at  any  fixed  date  or  hour,  inasmuch  as  it 
began  long  before  the  end  of  the  national  unity. 
Jewish  histories  take  their  rise  in  many  places 
before  the  end  of  Jewish  history.  Even  before 
the  advent  of  Christianity,  these  histories  begin 
in  Egypt,  in  Asia  Minor,  in  Italy,  at  Rome,  in 
Greece,  in  southern  Gaul,  where  the  dissenters 
from  the  synagogue  proceeded  to  form  the  nu- 


262      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

cleus  of  primitive  churches.  At  a  very  re- 
mote period,  colonies  entered  Arabia,  converted 
Arabic  tribes,  and  founded  states.  Their  prop- 
aganda, due  rather  to  the  exchange  of  ideas  in 
daily  commerce  than  to  a  consistent  plan,  makes 
gradual  advances,  and  influences  even  those  who 
are  not  converted  by  it.  The  idolatrous  Arabs 
accept  from  its  hands  the  Biblical  and  Rab- 
binical traditions,  and  recast  their  genealogical 
legends  on  the  basis  of  the  narratives  of  Gen- 
esis. To  this  there  is  added  at  a  later  period 
the  preaching  of  the  Judaic-Christian  sects, 
themselves  repulsed  by  incipient  orthodoxy. 
Mahomet,  under  the  influence  of  Jewish  and 
Judaic-Christian  teachings,  founds  Islamism. 
Its  dogma  is  the  Jewish  dogma,  degraded  by 
a  restricted  intelligence ;  its  mythology  is  essen- 
tially rabbinical  and  Judaic-Christian. 

Thus,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century 
of  our  era,  two  offshoots  of  Judaism  occupy  the 
domain  of  human  thought,  —  offshoots  at  war 
with  the  parent  stock,  cursing  and  repudiat- 
ing it,  not  only  by  the  contempt  with  which 
they  pursue  it,  but  —  which  is  sadder  and  more 
serious  —  by  distorting,  each  in  its  fashion, 
the  principles  that  they  received,  —  the  Chris- 
tian Occident,  in  retaining  from  its  past  the 
mythical  spirit,  rendering  it  more  dangerous 
than  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  gods,  because,  in 
carrying  it  over  into  the  realm  of  dogma,  it 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      263 

forces  science  to  silence  or  to  blasphemy;  the 
Arabian  Orient,  by  making  its  god  the  sym- 
bol of  supreme  will  instead  of  supreme  reason, 
soon  leading  it  gratuitously  to  abandon  science 
and  thought,  without  Christianity's  excuse  of 
dogma.  During  one  or  two  centuries  the  ele- 
ment of  reason  in  the  Koran  triumphs,  and 
brings  about  the  dawn  of  a  brilliant  civilization, 
saving  the  human  mind  in  the  Middle  Ages 
from  total  eclipse.  The  Jews  participate  in 
this  movement  in  two  ways,  —  by  their  personal 
action  and  by  their  influence  upon  the  Chris- 
tians. When  the  movement  comes  to  an  end 
among  the  Arabs,  it  leads  in  Europe  to  the  first 
Renaissance,  marked  by  the  end  of  the  scholastic 
period,  and  paving  the  way  for  the  second. 

Literature,  philosophy,  science,  are  rejuve- 
nated or  created.  Literature  lays  bare  a  new 
vein  by  the  creation  of  the  neo-Hebraic  poetry, 
which  borrows  its  models  from  the  Arabic,  and 
in  Spain  attains  a  high  degree  of  originality. 
The  last  Gaonim  of  the  schools  that  founded 
the  Talmud  establish  a  rational  theology  that 
drives  the  supernatural  element  out  of  religion, 
and  becomes  merely  the  abridged  expression  of 
demonstratable  truths,  with  reason  enthroned 
as  the  supreme  criterion.  At  the  same  time 
the  Cabbala  opens  to  the  imagination  its  great 
and  beautiful  mystic  avenues  where  the  thought 
of  Spinoza  often  wandered  in  his  youth.  At 


264      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

the  court  of  Al-Mamoun  the  Jews,  united  with 
the  exiled  Nestorians,  cast  into  the  current  of 
Arabic  thought  the  debris  of  the  Greek  phi- 
losophy, which  through  this  channel  reenters 
Europe.  Finally,  through  the  Arabic-speaking 
Jews,  comparative  grammar  makes  its  appear- 
ance in  the  Semitic  world,  eight  centuries  be- 
fore Bopp. 

Speaking  the  language  of  both  Arabs  and 
Christians,  the  Jews  became  the  sole  interme- 
diaries between  the  two,  while  their  incessant 
wanderings  through  countries,  to  which  they 
were  drawn  by  commerce  or  driven  by  persecu- 
tion, make  them  for  three  centuries  the  carriers 
of  thought  between  the  Orient  and  the  Occident. 
The  Middle  Ages,  fettered  by  dogma,  with  no 
originality  save  in  art  and  politics,  are  obliged 
to  go  to  the  Ghetto  for  the  science  and  philoso- 
phy of  the  Orient.  The  whole  Arabic  philo- 
sophy and  a  part  of  Aristotle  make  their  way 
into  scholasticism  through  the  medium  of  Latin 
translations  prepared  by  Jews  on  the  basis  of 
Hebrew  translations  from  the  original  Greek 
or  from  the  Arabic. 

The  Ghetto  becomes  the  asylum  of  science  as 
well  as  of  philosophy.  Koger  Bacon  studies 
under  the  rabbis;  they  have  the  science  of  medi- 
cine entirely  in  their  hands.  Richard  of  Eng- 
land drives  out  the  Jews,  but  when  he  falls  sick 
he  sends  for  Maimonides.  In  addition,  a  whole 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      265 

branch  of  literature  —  that  of  the  narrative  and 
of  the  novel  —  issues  from  the  Ghetto.  It  is 
from  the  hand  of  Jewish  translators  that  France 
receives  the  old  Indian  fables  that  sprung  up  in 
the  days  of  Buddha  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges, 
which  have  attained  such  wonderful  favor  on  the 
banks  of  the  Seine  and  throughout  Europe. 

Beneath  the  visible  effect  there  is  a  silent 
and  invisible  one,  unconscious  alike  to  those 
who  exercise  it  and  to  those  who  come  under 
its  influence,  and  which  justifies  the  subsequent 
hatred  of  the  church,  brought  about  by  reli- 
gious controvers}7",  which  slowly  corrodes  the 
foundations  of  Christianity.  The  policy  of  the 
church  in  regard  to  the  Jews  had  always  in  it 
something  uncertain  and  with  an  element  of 
trouble,  unknown  in  its  attitude  towards  other 
religions  and  towards  heretics.  The  popular 
hatred  of  the  Jew  is  the  work  of  the  church ; 
and  yet  it  is  the  church  which  alone  granted 
him  protection  against  the  fury  unchained  by 
her,  for  the  reason  that  she  both  needed  the 
Jew  and  stood  in  fear  of  him.  The  church 
needed  him,  because  his  book  forms  the  basis 
of  Christianity;  she  stood  in  fear  of  him  be- 
cause, being  the  sole  possessor  of  the  secret 
of  that  book,  he  could  measure  the  faith  of 
those  that  judged  him,  and  at  times,  by  a 
smile,  by  a  word  uttered  at  random,  he  could 
condemn  her,  and  expose  her  deceptions  and 


266       ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

errors.  He  is  the  demon  that  holds  the  key  to 
the  sanctuary.  Hence  the  priest's  great  dream 
is,  not  to  burn  the  Jew,  but  to  convert  him. 
Except  by  an  accident,  he  is  to  be  burned  only 
as  a  last  resource.  To  convert  thousands  of 
Saracens  or  of  idolaters  is  nothing,  proves 
nothing;  but  to  convert  a  Jew,  to  have  the 
legitimacy  of  the  new  faith  recognized  by  the 
heir  of  the  preparatory  faith,  —  therein  lies 
the  true  triumph,  the  real  proof,  the  supreme 
and  irrefutable  testimony.  As  long  as  a  single 
member  of  the  ancient  church  maintains  his 
attitude  of  opposition,  the  new  church  feels  ill 
at  ease  and  disturbed  in  its  security  as  heir. 
Hence  arise  all  those  solemn  controversies  pro- 
voked by  the  church,  terminating  always  in  an 
apparent  victory,  —  abjuration,  expulsion,  or 
the  stake,  from  which,  however,  she  emerges  in 
a  state  of  unconscious  perturbation,  for  the 
humble  and  wearisome  reply  of  the  accused 
finds  here  and  there,  occasionally  within  the 
walls  of  a  convent,  a  ready  ear,  a  restless  soul 
into  which  it  falls  and  takes  root.  The  effect 
is  even  worse  upon  the  laity.  St.  Louis,  in  his 
terror,  declares  that  the  layman  shall  argue 
with  the  Jew  only  at  the  point  of  the  sword.1 
Many  a  man,  entering  some  squalid  house  of 
the  Ghetto  to  pawn  his  goods  or  to  seek  his 
horoscope,  but  tarrying  there  to  talk  of  the 

1  Joiirville's  Chronicles,  53. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      267 

mysteries  of  the  universe,  emerges  with  a  dis- 
turbed soul,  ripe  for  the  stake.  The  Jew  knows 
how  to  unveil  the  vulnerable  points  of  the  church, 
and  in  order  to  do  so  he  has  at  his  service, 
besides  the  knowledge  of  Holy  Writ,  the  for- 
midable sagacity  characteristic  of  the  oppressed. 
He  ministers  to  the  skeptic;  all  rebellious  spir- 
its come  to  him,  secretly  or  under  the  open 
sky.  He  is  at  work  in  the  immense  workshop  of 
blasphemy  of  the  great  Emperor  Frederick,  and 
of  the  princes  of  Suabia  or  of  Aragon.  It  is  he 
who  forges  all  that  deadly  arsenal  of  reason  and 
irony  which  was  destined  to  become  the  legacy 
of  the  skeptics  of  the  Renaissance,  of  the  liber- 
tines of  the  great  century.  The  sarcasm  of 
Voltaire  is  but  the  last,  faint  echo  of  a  word 
murmured  six  centuries  before,  in  the  shadow 
of  the  Ghetto,  and  earlier  still  in  the  tunes  of 
Celsius  and  Origenes,  at  the  very  cradle  of  the 
religion  of  Christ.1 

On  two  occasions  the  terrified  church,  recog- 
nizing its  danger,  perceives  that  the  only  means 
to  ward  it  off  is  to  burn  the  Jewish  books.  The 
first  time,  under  Saint  Louis,  she  succeeds,  and 
with  one  stroke  crushes  the  Jewish  schools  in 
France,  and  arrests  the  threatened  birth  of 
biblical  exegesis  five  centuries  before  Richard 
Simon.  She  makes  a  second  attempt  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  Reuch- 

1  Polemical  writers  of  the  first  and  second  centuries. 


268      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

lin  with  all  Europe  behind  him  stands  up  in 
remonstrance.  The  mighty  breath  of  the  Re- 
naissance smothers  the  Dominican  torch,  and 
the  Reformation  bursts  forth.  Spain  alone  es- 
capes the  peril  by  a  general  proscription,  and 
haughtily  enters  upon  her  death  struggle. 

The  Reformation  was  entailed  with  two  con- 
sequences for  the  Jews.  On  the  one  hand,  al- 
though not  emancipated,  they  gained  a  measure 
of  peace  that  they  had  not  enjoyed  for  centu- 
ries; the  fury  of  extermination  was  directed 
against  other  victims.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation  bring  to 
the  front  the  study  of  Hebrew  and  of  Jewish 
science.  The  rabbis  are  engaged  in  teaching 
Hebrew  to  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  propa- 
gandists of  Europe.  Luther's  Bible  emanates 
from  the  commentaries  of  Raschi.  The  Cabbala 
emerges  from  its  mystic  atmosphere  and  takes 
possession  of  the  enthusiasts,  whom  it  intoxi- 
cates with  its  fumes,  while  fitting  them  for  the 
most  audacious  flights  of  thought,  "for  the  Jews 
alone  know  the  true  name  of  God."1  A  Re- 
naissance of  the  prophetic  mind  elevates  the 
soul  of  Europe  to  a  height  that  it  had  never 
before  scaled.  The  Old  Testament  supplants 
the  New  among  the  firmest  and  purest  minds. 
The  movement  gives  to  France  Coligny,  D'Au- 
bigne,  Duplessis-Morny,  and  her  admirable 

1  Reuchlin. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      269 

phalanx  of  martyrs  and  heroes.  It  gives  to 
England  the  Puritans  and  the  Republic,  and 
establishes  democratic  tradition.  Cromwell,  in 
his  gratitude,  reopens  the  gates  of  England  to 
the  Jews. 

At  length  the  great  century  of  free  thought 
approaches.  Voltairism,  born  with  Celsius  and 
the  authors  of  the  Jewish  "Counter-Evangel- 
ists," had  taken  refuge  in  the  Middle  Ages 
within  the  walls  of  the  Ghetto.  Thence  it 
occasionally  penetrated  to  a  few  monks  or  story- 
tellers, or  enjoyed  a  momentary  triumph  at 
some  semi-pagan  court.  Marching  abreast  with 
the  Reformation,  it  threads  its  way  through  the 
formal  religion  of  the  "great  reign"  and  finally 
blazes  forth  in  Voltaire  and  the  philosophers. 
The  French  Revolution,  in  execution  of  the  de- 
crees of  the  philosophers,  gives  to  the  Jews  the 
full  and  entire  right  of  citizenship  in  France, 
and  in  her  wake  follow  all  the  civilized  coun- 
tries, —  Italy,  England,  Holland,  Denmark, 
Servia,  Switzerland,  and  Austria. 

The  French  Revolution  wherever  it  penetrates, 
and  in  France  above  all,  opens  to  Judaism  a 
new  era,  in  a  double  sense,  material  and 
moral. 

On  one  hand,  by  breaking  down  the  barrier 
between  the  Jew  and  the  Christian,  it  placed 
a  bound  to  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people. 


270       ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

From  the  28th  of  September,  1791,  there  is 
no  longer  a  history  of  the  Jews  in  France. 
There  is  only  a  history  of  French  Judaism, 
as  there  is  a  history  of  French  Calvinism  or 
Lutheranism,  and  nothing  more.  The  marvel- 
ous rapidity  with  which  the  Jew  has  become  a 
member  of  the  great  French  nationality,  not 
only  in  right  and  in  name,  but  in  fact,  points, 
moreover,  to  older  and  perhaps  still  deeper 
causes  than  a  sudden  enthusiasm  of  justice  on 
the  one  side,  and  of  gratitude  on  the  other. 
For  the  Jew,  France  is  not  a  fatherland  impro- 
vised in  a  feverish  access  of  generosity ;  it  is  a 
country  recovered  by  him.  In  fact,  the  barrier 
raised  between  Jews  and  Christians  was  facti- 
tious, and  a  late  growth.  The  hatred  of  the 
people  was  not  an  old  popular  tradition,  and  the 
first  centuries  of  our  history  show  us  the  ad- 
herents of  the  two  faiths  living  together  upon  a 
footing  of  equality,  and  bound  to  one  another  by 
sentiments  of  mutual  toleration  and  esteem  that 
aroused  the  displeasure  of  the  bishops  of  the 
time,  and  against  which  for  a  long  time  they 
felt  themselves  powerless.1  It  is  the  triumph  of 
feudalism  which,  by  proclaiming  the  absolute 
authority  of  the  church,  delivers  up  the  Jew 
to  a  calculating  and  selfish  hatred,  which  from 
the  pulpit  is  slowly  diffused  among  the  masses. 
In  consequence,  there  exist  among  the  ignorant 

1  Agobard. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      271 

and  wretched  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  sup- 
pressed sentiments  of  hatred  and  repulsion, 
which  gain  in  strength  from  a  supposed  reli- 
gious justification,  and  to  which  the  Crusades 
add  fresh  fuel.  The  great  epic  of  the  Middle 
Ages  opens  with  the  general  massacre  of  the 
Deicides.  To  the  justification  of  hatred  by  re- 
ligion is  added  a  factor  which*  appears  also  to 
justify  this  hatred.  The  Jew,  driven  in  turn 
out  of  political  life,  from  all  offices,  from  all  the 
liberal  professions,  from  the  ownership  of  real 
estate,  from  everything  that  might  attach  him 
by  visible  marks  to  the  soul  and  soil  of  his 
country,  is  forced  into  commerce  and  usury  by 
the  canons  of  the  church,  and  by  the  financial 
policy  of  kings  who  wished  to  know  where  to 
turn  when  their  treasury  was  empty.  The  people 
see  in  the  Jew  only  the  man  of  affairs,  at  the 
service  of  his  lord  and  of  his  king,  the  living 
and  detested  symbol  of  the  popular  misery.  As 
a  consequence,  the  two  great  oppressed  classes  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  people  and  the  Jew,  are 
brought  face  to  face,  the  one  thrown  as  a  prey 
to  the  other.  And  nevertheless,  in  the  most 
desperate  times,  in  the  very  Ghettos  in  which 
the  oppressed  Jew  is  penned  up  by  law,  con- 
tempt, and  hatred,  he  is  kept  alive  by  the  very 
intellectual  activity  that  emanates  from  his  op- 
pressors. He  aspires  to  break  down  the  walls 
of  his  prison,  to  breathe  the  air  of  France. 


272      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

The  mother  tongue  of  this  pariah  is  not  a  He- 
brew patois,  it  is  the  French  of  France.  And 
the  most  ancient  French  elegy,  the  most  beauti- 
ful, perhaps,  ever  composed  in  that  language, 
was  written  in  a  Ghetto,  by  the  gleam  of  the 
stake.1  The  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation, 
by  turning  hatred  into  other  channels,  and  by 
introducing  a  broader  spirit,  hastened  the  moral 
fusion.  Prejudice  is  already  greatly  weakened 
before  the  eighteenth  century,  when  it  receives 
its  deathblow,  and  the  Revolution,  through  the 
voices  of  Mirabeau  and  the  Abbe  Gregoire,  has 
only  the  convictions  of  the  Abbe  Maury  to  com- 
bat. Even  emancipation  has  its  precedents  be- 
fore 1789.  The  Jews  of  Bordeaux  and  of  Comte 
receive  citizens'  rights  in  1776.  But  the  French 
Revolution,  by  establishing  the  general  principle 
of  religious  equality,  by  transforming  custom 
into  irrevocable  law,  with  an  amount  of  firm- 
ness and  decision  that  has  made  its  example  the 
rule  of  the  civilized  world,  becomes  the  supreme 
and  momentous  era  in  the  annals  of  Jewish 
destiny. 

This  era,  which  terminates  the  material  his- 
tory of  the  Jewish  people,  opens  a  new  and 
strange  phase  in  the  history  of  its  thought. 
For  the  first  time  this  thought  finds  itself  in 
accord,  and  no  longer  in  conflict,  with  the  gen- 
eral tendency  of  humanity.  Judaism,  which 
1  Eltyies  du  Vatican,  Ars&ne  Dannesteter. 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      273 

from  its  first  hour  has  always  been  at  war  with 
the  dominant  religion,  whether  that  of  Baal,  of 
Jupiter,  or  of  Christ,  at  length  encounters  a 
state  of  thought  which  it  need  not  combat,  be- 
cause it  finds  there  the  reflex  of  its  own  in- 
stincts and  traditions.  The  Revolution  is,  in 
fact,  only  the  echo  in  the  political  world  of  a 
much  vaster  and  deeper  movement,  which  wholly 
transforms  thought,  and  which,  in  the  realm  of 
speculation,  ends  with  the  substitution  of  the 
scientific  conception  of  the  world  for  the  mythi- 
cal, and  on  the  practical  side  brings  to  the  fore 
the  notion  of  justice  and  progress.  In  this 
great  downfall  of  mythical  religion,  the  crash 
of  which  fills  our  age,  Judaism,  such  as  the 
centuries  have  made  it,  has  had  the  least  to 
suffer  and  the  least  to  fear,  because  its  miracles 
and  rites  constitute  no  essential  and  integral 
part  of  it.  As  a  consequence,  it  does  not  fall 
with  the  rest.  Judaism  has  not  made  the  mi- 
raculous the  basis  of  its  dogma,  nor  installed 
the  supernatural  as  a  permanent  factor  in  the 
progress  of  events.  Its  miracles  from  the  tune 
of  the  Middle  Ages  are  but  a  poetic  detail,  a 
legendary  recital,  a  picturesque  decoration ;  and 
its  cosmogony,  borrowed  in  haste  from  Baby- 
lon by  the  last  compiler  of  the  Bible,  with  the 
stories  of  the  apple  and  the  serpent,  over  which 
so  many  Christian  generations  have  labored, 
never  greatly  disturbed  the  imagination  of  the 


274      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

rabbis,  nor  weighed  very  heavily  upon  the 
thought  of  the  Jewish  philosophers.  Its  rites 
were  never  "an  instrument  of  faith,"  an  expe- 
dient to  "lull"  rebellious  thought  into  faith; 
they  are  merely  cherished  customs,  a  symbol 
of  the  family,  of  transitory  value,  and  destined 
to  disappear  when  there  shall  be  but  one  family 
in  a  world  converted  to  the  one  truth.  Set 
aside  all  these  miracles,  all  these  rites,  and 
behind  them  will  be  found  the  two  great  dog- 
mas which,  ever  since  the  prophets,  constitute 
the  whole  of  Judaism:  the  divine  unity  and 
Messianism,  —  unity  of  law  throughout  the 
world,  and  the  terrestrial  triumph  of  justice 
in  humanity.  These  are  the  two  dogmas  which 
at  the  present  time  illuminate  humanity  in  its 
progress,  both  in  the  scientific  and  social  order 
of  things,  and  which  are  termed,  in  modern 
parlance,  unity  of  forces  and  belief  in  progress. 
For  this  reason,  Judaism  is  the  only  religion 
that  has  never  entered  into  conflict,  and  never 
can,  with  either  science  or  social  progress,  and 
that  has  witnessed,  and  still  witnesses,  all  their 
conquests  without  a  sense  of  fear.  These  are 
not  hostile  forces  that  it  accepts  or  submits  to 
merely  from  a  spirit  of  toleration  or  policy,  in 
order  to  save  the  remains  of  its  power  by  a  com- 
promise. They  are  old  friendly  voices,  which 
it  recognizes  and  salutes  with  joy,  for  it  has 
heard  them  resound  for  centuries  already,  in 


ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.      275 

the  axioms  of  free  thought  and  in  the  cry  of 
the  suffering  heart.  For  this  reason,  the  Jews, 
in  all  the  countries  which  have  entered  upon 
the  new  path,  have  begun  to  take  a  share  in  all 
the  great  works  of  civilization,  in  the  triple  field 
of  science,  of  art,  and  of  action;  and  that  share, 
far  from  being  an  insignificant  one,  is  ont  of  all 
proportion  to  the  brief  tune  that  has  elapsed 
since  their  enfranchisement. 

Does  this  mean  that  Judaism  should  nurse 
dreams  of  ambition,  and  think  of  realizing  one 
day  that  "invisible  church  of  the  future"  in- 
voked by  some  in  prayer?  This  would  be  an 
illusion,  whether  on  the  part  of  a  narrow 
sectarian,  or  on  that  of  an  enlightened  indi- 
vidual. The  truth,  however,  remains,  that  the 
Jewish  spirit  can  still  be  a  factor  in  tljis  world, 
making  for  the  highest  science  for  unending 
progress,  and  that  the  mission  of  the  Bible  is 
not  yet  complete.  The  Bible  is  not  responsible 
for  the  partial  miscarriage  of  Christianity,  due 
to  the  compromises  made  by  its  organizers,  who, 
in  their  too  great  zeal  to  conquer  and  convert 
Paganism,  were  themselves  converted  by  it. 
But  everything  in  Christianity  which  comes  in 
a  direct  line  from  Judaism  lives,  and  will  live ; 
and  it  is  Judaism  which  through  Christianity 
has  cast  into  the  old  polytheistic  world,  to  fer- 
ment there  until  the  end  of  time,  the  sentiment 
of  unity,  and  an  impatience  to  bring  about 


276      ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS. 

charity  and  justice.  The  reign  of  the  Bible, 
and  also  of  the  Evangelists  in  so  far  as  they 
were  inspired  by  the  Bible,  can  become  estab- 
lished only  in  proportion  as  the  positive  reli- 
gions connected  with  it  lose  their  power.  Great 
religions  outlive  their  altars  and  their  priests. 
Hellenism,  abolished,  counts  less  skeptics  to- 
day than  in  the  days  of  Socrates  and  Anaxa- 
goras.  The  gods  of  Homer  died  when  Phidias 
carved  them  in  marble,  and  now  they  are  im- 
mortally enthroned  in  the  thought  and  heart 
of  Europe.  The  cross  may  crumble  into  dust, 
but  there  were  words  spoken  under  its  shadow 
in  Galilee,  the  echo  of  which  will  forever  vi- 
brate in  the  human  conscience.  And  when 
the  nation  who  made  the  Bible  shall  have  dis- 
appeared, —  the  race  and  the  cult,  —  though 
leaving  no  visible  trace  of  its  passage  upon 
earth,  its  imprint  will  remain  in  the  depth  of 
the  heart  of  generations,  who  will  unconsciously, 
perhaps,  live  upon  what  has  thus  been  im- 
planted in  their  breasts.  Humanity,  as  it  is 
fashioned  in  the  dreams  of  those  who  desire  to 
be  called  freethinkers,  may  with  the  lips  deny 
the  Bible  and  its  work;  but  humanity  can  never 
deny  it  in  its  heart,  without  the  sacrifice  of  the 
best  that  it  contains,  faith  in  unity  and  hope 
for  justice,  and  without  a  relapse  into  the  my- 
thology and  the  "might  makes  right"  of  thirty 
centuries  ago. 


THE  SUPREME  GOD  IN  THE  INDO- 
EUROPEAN  MYTHOLOGY. 

COMPARATIVE   MYTHOLOGY.1 

TOWARDS  the  end  of  the  last  century  the 
men  of  letters  of  Europe  were  astonished  to 
hear  that  in  Asia,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges, 
a  more  ancient  and  richer  language  had  been 
found  than  that  of  Homer.  It  offered  in  its 
words  and  forms  striking  analogies  with  the 
languages  of  Rome  and  Athens.  Interest  once 
roused,  systematic  comparisons  were  made,  and 
comparative  grammar  was  founded.  The  sphere 
of  comparisons  widened  and  the  group  of  Aryan 
languages  was  established. 

It  was  thus  ascertained  that  the  languages 
of  the  Romans,  of  the  Greeks,  of  the  Gauls,  of 
the  Germans,  of  the  Lithuanians,  and  of  the 
Slavs  in  Europe,  of  the  Hindoos  and  Persians 
in  Asia,  are  made  out  of  the  same  materials 
and  cast  in  the  same  mould;  that  they  are  only 
varieties  of  one  primitive  type.  The  precise 
laws  which  regulated  the  formation  of  each  of 

1  Cf .  Max  Miiller :  Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Language  and 
Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Religion ;  Michel  Br4al,  Melanges  de 
Mythologie  et  de  Linguistique. 


278  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

these  varieties  were  discovered,  so  that  it  is 
both  possible  to  proceed  from  one  of  these  lan- 
guages to- the  other,  and  to  trace  all  of  them  to 
the  original  type  whence  they  come,  to  the  lost 
type  which  they  reproduce.  This  lost  type,  the 
source  of  all  the  idioms  of  nearly  the  whole  of 
Europe  and  of  a  third  of  Asia,  science  has  re- 
constructed. With  an  almost  absolute  cer- 
tainty, it  has  described  the  grammar,  drawn  up 
the  lexicon  of  that  language,  of  which  no  direct 
echo  remains,  not  the  fragment  of  an  inscription 
on  a  broken  stone,  —  of  that  language  of  which 
the  life  and  the  death  are  prehistoric,  and 
which  was  spoken  at  a  period  when  there  were 
as  yet  neither  Romans,  nor  Hindoos,  nor 
Greeks,  nor  Persians,  nor  Germans,  nor  Celts, 
and  when  the  ancestors  of  all  those  nations  were 
still  wandering  as  one  tribe,  one  knows  not 
where,  one  knows  not  when. 

Closely  following  comparative  grammar,  al- 
most at  the  same  time  rose  up  comparative  my- 
thology, and  with  the  ancient  words  awoke  the 
gods  that  they  had  sung,  the  beliefs  that  they 
had  fostered.  It  was  recognized  that  if  the 
Indo-Europeans  spoke  essentially  the  same  lan- 
guage, they  also  worshiped  essentially  the 
same  gods  and  believed  in  the  same  things. 
As  comparative  grammar,  on  hearing  the  sister 
tongues,  caught  up  the  echo  of  the  mother, 
whose  voice  they  repeat,  so  comparative  my- 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  279 

thology,  in  its  turn,  on  looking  at  the  sister 
religions,  has  tried  to  see  through  them  the 
original  image  which  they  reflect.  As  the  one 
restored  the  words  and  forms  of  the  language 
which  lived  on  the  lips  of  the  Aryans  at  the 
moment  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  Aryan  unity, 
the  other  endeavored  to  restore  the  gods  and 
beliefs  which  lived  in  their  souls  at  the  moment 
when,  with  the  unity  of  the  race,  the  identity 
of  language  and  belief  passed  away.  This  res- 
toration of  the  prehistoric  gods  and  of  the  pre- 
historic beliefs  is  the  final  object  of  comparative 
mythology,  just  as  the  reconstruction  of  words 
and  forms  is  the  final  object  of  comparative 
grammar.  The  object  was  analogous  and  so 
was  the  method.  It  is  the  comparative  method, 
which,  by  comparing  kindred  divinities  and  kin- 
dred beliefs,  finds  the  original  divinity  and  the 
original  belief  which  gave  birth  to  them,  and 
which  are  reproduced  in  them.  To  sketch  the 
picture  of  the  original  mythology,  it  is  sufficient 
to  separate  from  the  various  derivative  my- 
thologies the  essential  characteristics  common  to 
them.  Every  characteristic  common  to  the  sec- 
ondary religions  will  be  legitimately  referred 
to  the  primitive  one,  whenever  it  is  essential, 
that  is  to  say,  neither  borrowed  from  one  of  the 
kindred  religions,  nor  due  to  an  identical,  but 
quite  independent  development.  If,  for  in- 
stance, the  various  Indo-European  mythologies 


280  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

\ 

agree  in  naming  the  gods  Daiva,  "the  shining 
ones,"  it  follows  that  in  the  primitive  mythology, 
in  the  religion  of  the  period  of  unity,  they  were 
known  already  as  beings  of  light,  and  called 
thus.  It  is  a  great  deal  easier  to  admit  that 
the  seven  derived  religions  have  faithfully  re- 
peated what  has  been  handed  down  to  them 
from  their  common  source,  than  to  imagine  that 
once  separated  they  have  created  the  same  con- 
ception, each  one  on  its  side,  and  have  clothed 
it  with  the  same  expression.  The  former  hy- 
pothesis is  a  simple  and  natural  induction ;  the 
second  is  in  reality  made  up  of  seven  hypotheses, 
and  implies  seven  chances  agreeing  together, 
seven  miracles. 

Our  object  in  the  following  pages  is  to  give 
a  sketch  of  one  of  the  chapters  of  the  Aryan 
mythology.  We  try  to  show  that  the  religion 
of  the  Indo-European  unity  recognized  a  Su- 
preme God,  and  we  try  to  find  the  most  ancient 
form  and  the  earliest  origin  of  that  conception 
among  the  Aryans,  and  to  follow  out  the  trans- 
formations it  has  undergone  in  the  course  of 
ages. 

THE   SUPREME   GOD:    ZEUS,    JUPITER,    VARUNA, 
AHURA   MAZDA. 

The  Aryan  Gods  are  not  organized  as  a  Ke- 
public;  they  have  a  king.  There  is  over  the 
gods  a  Supreme  God. 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  281 

Four  of  the  Aryan  mythologies  have  preserved 
a  clear  and  precise  notion  of  this  conception: 
they  are  those  of  Greece,  of  Italy,  of  ancient 
India,  and  of  ancient  Persia.  This  Supreme 
God  is  called  Zeus  in  Greece,  Jupiter  in  Italy, 
Varuna  in  ancient  India,  Ahura  Mazda  in  an- 
cient Persia.  Let  us  then  listen  to  Zeus,  to 
Jupiter,  to  Varuna,  and  to  Ahura  Mazda,  each 
in  his  turn. 

Zeus  and  Jupiter.1  About  three  centuries 
before  our  era  a  Greek  poet  thus  addressed 
Zeus :  — 

"  Oh  !  Thou  most  glorious  of  immortals,  whose  names 
are  many,  forever  Almighty,  Zeus,  Thou  who  rulest  na- 
ture, directing  all  things  according  to  a  law,  hail  !  To 
Thee  all  this  universe  moving  round  the  earth  yields 
obedience,  following  whither  thou  leadest,  and  submits 
itself  to  Thy  rule.  ...  So  great  in  Thy  nature,  King 
Supreme  above  all  things,  no  work  is  achieved  without 
Thee,  neither  on  the  earth,  nor  in  the  celestial  regions  of 
ether,  nor  on  the  sea,  but  those  which  the  wicked  accom- 
plish in  their  folly." 

This  is  the  Zeus  of  the  philosophers,  of  the 
Stoics,  of  Cleanthes;  but  he  was  already  the 
Zeus  of  the  ancient  poets.  Powerful,  omni- 
scient, and  just  is  the  god  of  ^Eschylus,  as  that 
of  Cleanthes.  He  is  the  king  of  kings,  the 
blessed  of  the  blessed,  the  sovereign  power 
among  all  powers,  the  only  one  who  is  free 

1  Maury,  Histoire  des  Beligions  de  la  Grece;  Preller, 
Griechische  Mythdogie. 


282  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

among  the  gods,  who  is  the  master  of  the  might- 
iest, who  is  subservient  to  no  one's  rule; 
above  whom  no  one  sits,  no  one  to  whom  from 
below  he  looks  with  awe ;  every  word  of  his  is 
absolute ;  he  is  the  God  of  deep  thoughts,  whose 
heart  has  dark  and  hidden  ways,  impenetrable 
to  the  eye,  and  no  scheme  formed  within  his 
mind  has  ever  miscarried.  Finally,  he  is  the 
Father  of  Justice,  Dike,  "  the  terrible  virgin 
who  breathes  out  on  crime  anger  and  death;  "  it 
is  he  who  from  hell  raises  vengeance  with  its 
slow  chastisement  against  the  bold  wayward 
mortal.  Terpander  proclaims  in  Zeus  the  es- 
sence of  all  things,  the  god  who  rules  over 
everything.  Archilochus  sings  Zeus  father,  as 
the  God  who  rules  the  heavens,  who  watches  the 
guilty  and  unjust  actions  of  men,  who  admin- 
isters chastisements  to  monsters,  the  God  who 
created  heaven  and  earth.  The  old  man  of 
Ascra  knows  that  Zeus  is  the  father  of  gods 
and  of  men,  that  his  eye  sees  and  comprehends 
all  things  and  reaches  all  that  he  wishes.  In 
short,  as  far  back  as  the  Greek  Pantheon  ap- 
pears in  the  light  of  history,  even  from  Homer, 
Zeus  towers  above  the  nation  of  gods  which  sur- 
rounds him.  He  himself  proclaims,  and  the 
other  gods  proclaim  after  him,  that,  unrivaled 
in  power  and  strength,  he  is  the  greatest  of  all; 
the  gods,  at  his  behest,  silently  bow  down  be- 
fore him;  he  would  hurl  into  the  gloomy  depths 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  283 

of  Tartarus  whomsoever  should  dare  to  disobey 
him;  he  would  hurl  him  down  into  the  utter- 
most depths  of  the  subterranean  abyss;  alone, 
against  them  all,  he  would  master  them.  Should 
they  let  fall  from  the  sky  a  golden  chain  on 
which  all  the  gods  and  goddesses  might  be  sus- 
pended, they  still  would  be  powerless,  however 
hard  they  might  strain  to  drag  him  from  the 
heavens  to  the  earth ;  and  if  it  pleased  him,  he 
could  draw  them  up  even  with  the  earth,  even 
with  the  sea,  and  he  would  then  fix  the  chain 
on  the  ridge  of  Olympus,  and  suspend  on  it  the 
whole  universe ;  so  much  is  he  above  mankind, 
above  the  gods.  Not  only  is  he  the  most  power- 
ful, but  also  he  is  the  wisest,  —  the  /^rien/s ; 
he  is  all  wisdom  and  he  is  likewise  all  justice. 
It  is  from  him  that  the  judges  of  the  sons  of 
the  Achaans  have  received  their  laws;  very 
good,  very  great,  he  holds  learned  conversa- 
tions with  Themis  (the  law),  who  sits  at  his 
side;  prayers  are  his  daughters,  whom  he 
avenges  for  all  the  insults  of  the  wicked. 

Thus,  power,  wisdom,  justice,  belonged  from 
all  time  to  Zeus,  to  the  Zeus  of  Homer  as  well 
as  to  the  Zeus  of  Cleanthes ;  to  the  Zeus  of  the 
poets  as  to  him  of  the  philosophers,  in  the  re- 
motest period  of  paganism  as  at  the  approach 
of  the  religion  of  Christ.  A  providential  god 
rules  the  Pantheon  of  the  Hellenes. 

What  Zeus  is  in  Greece,  Jupiter  is  in  Italy : 


284  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

the  God  who  is  above  all  the  gods.  The  iden- 
tity of  the  two  deities  is  so  striking  that  the 
ancients  themselves,  forestalling  comparative 
mythology,  recognized  it  from  the  very  first. 
He  is  the  God,  great  and  good  amongst  them 
all,  —  Jupiter,  optimus,  maximus. 

Varuna.  The  most  ancient  of  the  religions 
of  India,  which  the  Vedas  have  made  known  to 
us,  has  also  a  Zeus,  whose  name  is  Varuna.1 

"  Truly  admirable  for  grandeur  are  the  works  of  Him 
who  has  separated  the  two  worlds  and  fixed  their  vast 
extent :  of  Him  who  has  set  in  motion  the  high  and  sub- 
lime firmament,  who  has  spread  out  the  heavens  above 
and  the  earth  beneath. 

"These  heavens  and  this  earth  which  reach  so  far, 
flowing  with  milk,  so  beautiful  in  form,  it  is  by  the  law 
of  Varuna  that  they  remain  fixed,  facing  each  other,  im- 
mortal beings  with  fertile  seed. 

"  This  Asura,2  who  is  acquainted  with  all  things,  has 
propped  up  these  heavens,  he  has  fixed  the  boundaries 
of  the  earth.  He  is  enthroned  above  all  the  worlds,  uni- 
versal king  ;  all  the  laws  of  the  world  are  the  laws  of 
Varuna. 

"  In  the  bottomless  abyss  the  king  Varuna  has  lifted 
up  the  summit  of  the  celestial  tree.8  It  is  the  king  Va- 
runa who  has  traced  out  to  the  sun  the  broad  path  he  is 
to  follow  :  to  footless  creatures  he  has  given  feet  so  that 
they  may  run. 

1  See  Muir,  Sanscrit  Texts,  v.  58 ;  Max  Miiller,  Lectures  on 
the  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion,  p.  284. 

2  "This  Lord." 

8  The  cloud  often  compared  to  a  tree  branching  out  in  the 
sky. 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  285 

"Those  stars,  which  illumine  the  night,  where  were 
they  during  the  day  ?  Infallible  are  the  laws  of  Varuna: 
the  moon  kindles  itself  and  walks  through  the  night. 

"  Varuna  has  traced  out  paths  for  the  sun  :  he  has 
thrown  forwards  the  fluctuating  torrent  of  rivers.  He 
has  dug  out  the  wide  and  rapid  beds  where  the  waves  of 
the  days,  let  loose,  unroll  themselves  in  their  order. 

"  He  has  put  strength  into  the  horse,  milk  into  the 
cow,  intellect  into  the  heart,  Agni  l  into  the  waters,  the 
sun  in  the  sky,  soina 2  into  the  stone. 

"  The  wind  is  thy  breath,  O  Varuna  !  which  roars  in 
the  atmosphere,  like  the  ox  in  the  meadow.  Between 
this  earth  and  the  sublime  heaven  above,  all  things,  O 
Varuna,  are  of  thy  creation." 

There  is  an  order  in  nature,  there  is  a  law, 
a  habit,  a  rule,  a  Rita.  This  law,  this  Rita, 
it  is  Varuna  who  has  established  it.  He  is  the 
god  of  the  Rita,  the  god  of  Order,  the  guardian 
of  the  Rita ;  he  is  the  god  of  efficient  and  stable 
laws ;  in  him  rest,  as  in  a  rock,  the  fixed  immov- 
able laws. 

Organizer  of  the  world,  he  is  its  master.  He 
is  the  first  of  the  Asuras,  "of  the  lords;  "  he  is 
the  Asura,  "the  Lord;"  he  is  the  sovereign  of 
the  whole  world,  the  king  of  all  beings,  the 
universal  king,  the  independent  king;  no  one 
amongst  the  gods  dares  to  infringe  his  laws; 
"it  is  thou,  Varuna,  who  are  the  king  of  all." 

1  The  fire  (Ignis)  which  is  born  in  the  waters  of  heaven  in 
the  form  of  lightning. 

2  A  sacred  plant  whose  sap  is  offered  to  the  gods.     It  is 
pressed  between  two  stones  to  extract  the  sacred  liquor. 


286  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

As  he  has  omnipotence,  he  has  omniscience 
too;  he  is  "the  Lord  who  knows  all  things," 
the  Asura  viyva-vedas.  He  is  the  sage  who 
has  supreme  wisdom,  in  whom  all  sciences  have 
their  centre ;  when  the  poet  wishes  to  praise  the 
learning  of  a  god,  he  compares  it  to  that  of 
Varuna.  "He  knows  the  place  of  the  birds 
which  fly  in  the  air,  he  knows  the  ships  which 
are  sailing  on  the  ocean,  he  knows  the  twelve 
months  and  what  they  will  bring  forth,  he 
knows  every  creature  that  is  born.  He  knows 
the  path  of  the  sublime  wind  in  the  heights,  he 
knows  who  sits  at  the  sacrifice.  The  God  of 
stable  laws,  Varuna,  has  taken  his  place  in  his 
palace  to  be  the  universal  king,  the  god  with 
the  wondrous  intellect.  Hence,  following  in 
his  mind  all  these  marvels,  he  looks  around  him 
at  what  has  happened  and  what  will  happen." 

As  he  is  the  universal  witness,  he  is  also  the 
universal  judge,  the  infallible  judge  whom  no- 
thing escapes ;  none  can  deceive  him,  and  from 
above  he  sees  the  evil  done  below  and  strikes 
it;  he  has  sevenfold  bands  to  clasp  thrice 
round  the  liar  by  the  upper,  by  the  middle,  and 
by  the  lower  part  of  the  body.  The  man,  smit- 
ten by  misfortune,  implores  his  pity,  and  feels 
that  he  has  sinned,  and  that  the  hand  which 
strikes  is  also  the  hand  that  punishes :  — 

"  I  ask  Thee,  O  Varuna,  because  I  wish  to  know  my 
fault : 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  287 

"I  come  to  Thee,  to  question  Thee  who  knowest  all 
things.  All  the  sages,  with  one  voice,  said  to  me,  Va- 
runa  is  angry  with  thee. 

"  What  great  crime  have  I  committed,  O  Varuna,  that 
thou  shouldst  want  to  kill  thy  friend,  thy  bard.  Tell  me, 
O  Lord,  O  infallible  one,  and  I  will  then  lay  my  homage 
at  thy  feet. 

"  Free  me  from  the  bonds  of  my  crime,  do  not  sever 
the  thread  of  the  prayer  that  I  am  weaving,  do  not  de- 
liver me  over  to  the  deaths  that,  at  thy  dictate,  O  Asura, 
strike  him  who  has  committed  a  crime  :  send  me  not  into 
the  gloomy  regions  far  from  the  light. 

"Let  me  pay  the  penalty  of  my  faults;  but  let  me  not 
suffer,  O  King,  for  the  crime  of  others  ;  there  are  so 
many  days  that  have  not  dawned  yet !  Let  them  dawn 
for  us  also,  O  Varuna  !  " 

Such  is  the  supreme  God  of  the  Vedic  reli- 
gion, an  organizing  God,  almighty,  omniscient, 
and  moral.  The  following  is  a  Vedic  hymn 
which  sums  up  with  singular  force  the  essential 
attributes  of  the  God :  — 

"  He  who  from  on  high  rules  this  world  sees  everything 
as  if  it  were  before  him.  That  which  two  men,  seated 
side  by  side,  are  plotting,  is  heard  by  king  Varuna,  him- 
self the  third. 

"  This  earth  belongs  to  the  king  Varuna,  and  this  sky, 
these  two  sublime  worlds  with  their  remote  limits  ;  the 
two  seas  l  are  the  belly  of  Varuna,  and  he  rests  also  even 
in  this  small  pool  of  water. 

"  He  who  should  leap  over  the  sky  and  beyond  it, 
would  not  escape  the  king  Varuna  :  he  has  his  spies,  the 
spies  of  the  heavens,  who  go  through  the  world  ;  he  has 
his  thousand  eyes  which  look  on  the  earth. 

1  The  sea  of  the  earth  and  the  sea  of  the  clouds. 


288  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

"The  king  Varuna  sees  everything,  all  that  which  is 
between  the  two  worlds  and  beyond  them  :  he  reckons 
the  winking  of  the  eye  of  all  creatures  : 

"  The  world  is  in  his  hand  like  the  dice  in  the  hand  of 
the  gamester. 

"  Let  thy  sevenfold  bands,  O  Varuna,  let  thy  bands  of 
wrath  which  are  thrice  linked  together,  let  them  enfold 
the  man  with  a  lying  tongue,  let  them  leave  free  the 
man  with  a  truthful  tongue  !  " 

Ahura  Mazda.1  Ancient  Persia  opposes  to 
Zeus,  to  Jupiter,  to  Varuna,  her  Ormazd.or 
Ahura  Mazda.2  "It  is  through  me,"  he  said 
to  his  prophet,  Zoroaster,  "that  the  firmament, 
with  its  distant  boundaries,  hewn  from  the 
sparkling  ruby,  subsists  without  pillars  to  rest 
upon ;  it  is  through  me  that  the  earth,  through 
me  that  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars  take 
their  radiant  course  through  the  atmosphere ;  it 
was  I  who  formed  the  seeds  in  such  a  manner 
that,  when  sown  in  the  earth,  they  should  grow, 
spring  up,  and  appear  on  the  surface ;  it  was  I 
who  traced  their  veins  in  every  species  of  plants, 
who  in  all  beings  put  the  fire  of  life  which  does 
not  consume  them ;  it  is  I  who  in  the  maternal 
womb  produce  the  new-born  child,  who  form 
the  limbs,  the  skin,  the  nails,  the  blood,  the 
feet,  the  ears ;  it  was  I  who  gave  the  water  feet 
to  run;  it  was  I  who  made  the  clouds,  which 

1  See  J.  Darmesteter,  Ormazd  et  Ahriman,  §§  18-59. 

2  Ormazd  is  the  modern  name,  contracted  from  the  ancient 
Ahura  Mazda. 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  289 

carry  the  water  to  the  world,"  etc.  This  devel- 
opment, taken  from  a  recent  book  of  the  Ghe- 
bers,  the  Bundahish,  is  to  be  found  entire  in 
the  very  first  words  of  their  oldest  and  holiest 
book,  the  Avesta:  "I  proclaim  and  worship 
Ahura  Mazda,  the  Creator."  As  far  as  his- 
tory can  be  traced,  he  was  already  what  he  is 
now.  Near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Ecbatana, 
the  traveler  may  read,  on  the  red  granite  of 
the  mountain  of  Alvand,  these  words,  which 
were  engraved  by  the  hand  of  Darius,  the  king 
of  kings,  nearly  five  centuries  before  the  birth 
of  Christ :  — 

"  A  powerful  God  is  Auramazda  ! 
'T  was  he  who  made  this  earth  here  below  ! 
'T  was  he  who  made  that  heaven  above  ! 
'T  was  he  who  made  man ! " 

This  God,  who  made  the  world,  rules  it.  He 
is  the  sovereign  of  the  universe,  the  Ahura,1 
"the  Lord."  "He  is  a  powerful  god,"  exclaims 
Xerxes;  "he  is  the  greatest  of  all  the  gods." 
It  is  to  his  favor  that  Darius,  inscribing  upon 
the  rock  of  Behistun  the  narrative  of  his  nine- 
teen victories,  ascribes  both  his  elevation  and 
his  triumphs.  It  is  to  his  supreme  care  that  he 
confides  Persia :  "  This  country  of  Persia,  which 
Auramazda  has  given  me,  this  beautiful  coun- 
try, beautiful  in  horses,  beautiful  in  men,  by 
the  grace  of  Auramazda,  and  through  me,  king 

1  Which  is  the  same  word  as  the  Sanskrit  Asura. 


290  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

Darayavus,  has  nothing  to  fear  from  any  enemy. 
May  Auramazda  and  the  gods  of  the  nation 
bring  me  their  help !  May  Auramazda  protect 
this  country  from  hostile  armies,  from  barren- 
ness and  evil !  May  this  country  never  be  in- 
vaded by  the  stranger,  nor  by  hostile  armies, 
nor  by  barrenness,  nor  by  evil!  This  is  the 
favor  which  I  implore  from  Auramazda  and  the 
gods  of  the  nation !  " 

This  world  which  he  has  organized  is  a  work 
of  intelligence ;  by  his  wisdom  it  began,  and  by 
his  wisdom  it  will  end.  He  is  the  mind  which 
knows  all  things,  and  it  is  to  him  that  the  sage 
appeals  in  order  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of 
the  world. 

"  Reveal  to  me  the  truth,  O  Ahura !  What  was  the 
beginning  of  the  good  creation  ? 

"  Who  is  the  father,  who,  at  the  beginning  of  time, 
begat  Order  ? 

"  Who  has  traced  for  the  sun  and  the  stars  the  paths 
that  they  must  follow  ? 

"  Who  makes  the  moon  increase  and  decrease  ? 

"  O  Ahura  !  I  would  learn  those  mysteries  and  many 
more  ! 

"  Who  has  fixed  the  earth  and  the  immovable  stars  to 
establish  them  firmly,  so  that  they  might  not  fall  ?  Who 
has  fixed  the  waters  and  the  trees  ? 

"  Who  has  directed  the  rapid  course  of  the  wind  and 
of  the  clouds  ?  What  skillful  artist  has  made  the  light 
and  the  darkness  ? 

"  What  skillful  workman  has  made  sleep  and  wakeful- 
ness  ?  Through  whom  have  we  dawn,  noon,  and  night  ? 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  291 

From  whom  do  they  learn  the  law  which  is  traced  out 
for  them  ?  Who  endeared  the  son  to  his  father  so  that 
he  should  train  him  ?  Those  are  the  things  that  I  wish 
to  ask  Thee,  O  Mazda,  O  beneficent  Spirit,  O  Creator  of 
all  things  ! " 

In  his  omniscience  are  embraced  all  human 
actions.  He  watches  over  all  things,  and  is 
farseeing,  and  never  sleeping.  He  is  the  infal- 
lible one ;  "  it  is  impossible  to  deceive  him,  the 
Ahura,  who  knows  all  things."  He  sees  man, 
and  judges  and  chastises  him,  if  he  has  not  fol- 
lowed his  law,  for  from  him  comes  the  law  of 
man,  as  well  as  the  law  of  the  world;  from  him 
comes  the  science  supreme  among  all  other  sci- 
ences, that  of  duty,  the  knowledge  of  those 
things  we  ought  to  think,  say,  and  do,  and  of 
those  things  we  ought  neither  to  think,  nor  say, 
nor  do.  To  the  man  who  has  prayed  well, 
thought,  spoken,  and  acted  well,  he  opens  his 
resplendent  paradise ;  he  opens  hell  to  him  who 
has  not  prayed  and  who  has  thought,  spoken, 
and  done  evil. 

THE   SUPREME   GOD,    THE   GOD   OF   HEAVEN. 

Thus  the  Aryans  of  Greece,  of  Italy,  of  In- 
dia, and  of  Persia  agree  in  giving  the  highest 
place  in  their  Pantheon  to  a  supreme  God  who 
rules  the  world  and  who  has  founded  order, 
a  God  sovereign,  omniscient,  and  moral.  Has 
this  identical  conception  been  formed  in  each 


292  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

of  these  cases  by  four  independent  creations,  or 
is  it  a  common  inheritance  from  the  Indo-Euro- 
pean religion,  and  did  the  Aryan  ancestors  of 
the  Greeks,  of  the  Latins,  of  the  Hindoos,  and 
of  the  Persians  already  know  a  supreme  God, 
an  organizing,  a  sovereign,  an  omniscient,  a 
moral  God? 

Although  the  latter  hypothesis  is  more  simple 
and  more  probable  than  the  former,  it  cannot, 
however,  be  taken  at  once  as  certain;  because 
an  abstract  and  logical  conception  of  this  kind 
may  very  well  have  developed  itself  at  the  same 
time  among  several  nations,  in  an  identical 
and  independent  manner.  To  whomsoever  looks 
upon  it  at  any  time  and  in  any  place,  the  world 
can  reveal  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Maker. 
Socrates  is  not  the  disciple  of  the  Psalmist;  yet 
the  heavens  reveal  to  him,  as  to  the  Hebrew 
poet,  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  But  if  it  be  found 
that  the  abstract  conception  is  closely  connected 
with  a  naturalistic  and  material  conception,  and 
that  the  latter  is  identical  in  the  four  religions, 
as  it  is  known,  on  the  other  hand,  that  these 
four  religions  have  a  common  past,  the  hypo- 
thesis that  this  abstract  conception  is  a  heritage 
of  this  past,  and  not  a  creation  of  the  present, 
may  rise  to  a  certainty. 

Now  these  Gods  who  organize  the  world  rule 
it  and  watch  over  it.  This  Zeus,  this  Jupiter, 
this  Varuna,  this  Ahura  Mazda,  are  not  the 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  293 

personifications  of  a  simple  abstract  conception ; 
they  emerge  from  a  former  naturalism,  from 
which  they  are  not  yet  quite  detached;  they 
commenced  by  being  gods  of  the  heavens. 

Zeus  and  Jupiter  have  never  ceased  to  be 
gods  of  the  heavens,  and  to  be  conscious  of  it. 
When  the  world  was  shared  among  the  gods, 
"Zeus  received  the  boundless  sky  in  the  ether 
and  the  clouds  for  his  share."  It  is  as  the  God 
of  heaven  that  sometimes  he  shines  luminous, 
calm,  and  pure,  enthroned  in  the  ethereal  splen- 
dor, and  that  sometimes  he  becomes  gloomy  and 
gathers  clouds  (vc^cXTTyepeV^s),  causing  the  rain 
to  fall  from  heaven  (o/*/3/3ios,  verios),  hurling 
upon  the  earth  the  eddy  of  fierce  winds,  draw- 
ing forth  the  hurricane  from  the  summit  of 
the  ether,  brandishing  the  lightning  and  the 
thunderbolt  (e*pawios,  do-TpaTraios).  This  is  why 
the  thunderbolt  is  his  weapon,  his  attribute, 
"the  thunderbolt  with  its  never-tiring  foot," 
which  he  hurls  in  the  heights ;  why  he  rolls  on 
a  resounding  chariot,  brandishing  in  his  hand 
the  fiery  trident,  or  dashing  it  on  the  wings  of 
the  eagle,  or  on  Pegasus,  the  aerial  steed  of  the 
lightning.  This  is  why  he  is  the  husband  of 
Demeter,  "the  mother  Earth,"  whom  he  impreg- 
nates with  his  torrents  of  rain ;  this  is  why  he 
sent  forth,  from  his  brow  according  to  some, 
from  his  belly  according  to  others,  from  the 
clouds  according  to  the  Cretan  legend,  Athene, 


294  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

the  resplendent  goddess  with  the  penetrating 
glance,  who  came  forth,  shaking  golden  weapons, 
with  a  cry  which  made  heaven  and  earth  re- 
sound, as  she  is  the  incarnation  of  the  stormy 
light  which  breaks  forth  from  the  brow  of 
heaven,  from  the  belly  of  heaven,  from  the 
bosom  of  the  cloud,  filling  space  with  its  splen- 
dor and  with  the  crash  of  its  stormy  birth. 
Lastly,  the  very  name  of  Zeus  (genitive  Dios, 
formerly  Divos)  is,  in  conformity  with  the  laws 
of  Greek  phonetics,  the  literal  representative  of 
the  Sanskrit  Dyaus,  heaven  (genitive  Divas); 
and  the  union  of  Zeus  Trarrjp  with  AT^T^P  is 
the  exact  counterpart  of  the  Vedic  union  of 
Dyaus  pitar  with  JPritkivi  matar,  of  the 
Heaven-Father  with  Earth-Mother.  The  word 
Zeus  is  an  ancient  synonym  of  Oupavos,  which 
became  obsolete  as  a  common  noun;  still,  in  a 
certain  number  of  expressions,  it  retains  some- 
thing of  its  former  meaning.  Thus  it  is,  when 
the  Earth  prays  Zeus  to  let  rain  fall  upon  her; 
when  the  Athenian,  in  praying,  exclaims:  "O 
dear  Zeus,  rain  thou  on  the  field  of  the  Athe- 
nians and  on  the  plains."  "Zeus  has  rained 
the  whole  night,"  says  Homer:  ue  Zeus  Travvu^os. 
In  all  these  expressions  Zeus  may  be  literally 
translated  as  a  common  noun,  sky. 

Jupiter,  identical  with  Zeus  in  his  functions, 
is  identical  with  him  in  his  material  attributes. 

The  word  Jupiter,  or  better  Jup-piter,  is  for 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  295 

Jus-piter,  composed  of  pater  and  of  Jus,  the 
Latin  contraction  of  the  Sanskrit  Dyaus,  of  the 
Greek  Zeus.  Juppiter  is  then  the  exact  equiva- 
lent of  Ze£?  TraTryp,  and  the  word  has  preserved 
even  more  strongly  than  Zeus  the  sense  of  its 
early  meaning.  Sub  Jove  signifies  "under  the 
heavens : "  the  hunter  awaits  the  marsian  boar, 
heedless  of  the  cold  or  snow,  sub  Jbvefrigido, 
"under  the  cold  Jupiter,  under  the  cold  sky." 
Dyaus  is  also  in  Latin,  as  it  is  in  Sanskrit,  the 
name  of  the  brilliant  sky.  "Behold,"  exclaims 
old  Ennius,  "above  thy  head  this  luminous 
space  which  all  invoke  under  the  name  of  Jupi- 
ter: " 

"  Aspice    hoc    sublime    candens    quern   invocant    omnes 
Jovem." 

Varuna,  like  his  European  brethren,  has 
been,  and  is  yet,  a  material  god,  and  a  material 
god  of  the  same  kind,  a  god  of  heaven.  This 
is  why  the  sun  is  his  eye;  why  the  sun,  "the 
beautiful  bird  which  flies  in  the  firmament," 
is  "his  golden-winged  messenger;"1  why  the 
celestial  rivers  flow  in  the  hollow  of  his  mouth, 
as  in  the  hollow  of  a  reed;  why,  everywhere 
visible,  by  turns  full  of  light  and  of  darkness, 
by  turns  he  infolds  himself  in  the  night  and 
irradiates  the  dawn,  and  by  turns  clothes  him- 
self in  the  white  garments  and  in  the  black 

1  The  sun  is  also  the  bird  of  Zens  (.^Eschylus,  The  Snppli- 
ants). 


296  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

ones.  Like  Zeus,  and  from  the  same  cause,  he 
gathers  together  the  clouds,  he  turns  the  sack 
that  contains  the  rains,  and  lets  it  loose  upside 
down  on  the  two  worlds;  he  inundates  the 
heaven  and  the  earth,  he  clothes  the  mountains 
with  a  watery  garb,  and  his  blood-red  eyes  un- 
ceasingly furrow  the  watery  dwelling  with  their 
twinkling  flashes.  As  Zeus  is  the  father  of 
Athene,  he  is  the  father  of  Atharvan,  "the 
Fire-God,"  of  Bhrigu,  "the  Thunderer,"  that 
is  to  say,  of  Agni,  of  the  lightning.  Agni 
himself  is  brought  forth  "from  his  belly  in 
the  waters,"  like  a  male  Athene.  Finally,  like 
Zeus,  like  Jupiter,  he  bears  in  his  very  name 
the  expression  of  what  he  is ;  and  the  Sanskrit 
Varuna  is  the  exact  phonetic  representative  of 

Oupavo9,  sky. 

In  fine,  the  sovereign  god  of  Persia,  notwith- 
standing the  character  of  profound  abstraction 
which  he  has  acquired  and  which  is  reflected  in 
his  name  Ahura  Mazda,  "the  omniscient  Lord," 
can  himself  be  recognized  as  a  god  of  the  hea- 
vens. The  ancient  formula  of  the  litanies  still 
show  that  he  is  luminous  and  corporeal;  they 
invoke  the  creator  Ahura  Mazda,  resplendent, 
very  great,  very  beautiful,  corporeally  beauti- 
ful; white,  luminous,  seen  from  afar;  they  in- 
voke the  entire  body  of  Ahura  Mazda,  the  body 
of  Ahura  which  is  the  greatest  of  bodies ;  they 
say  that  the  sun  is  his  eye,  and  that  the  sky 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  297 

is  the  garment  embroidered  with  stars  with 
which  he  arrays  himself.  The  most  abstract 
of  the  Aryan  gods  has  preserved  a  trait  which 
shows  him  more  closely  tied  than  the  others  to 
the  material  world  from  which  they  have  freed 
themselves ;  he  is  called  "  the  most  solid  of  the 
gods,"  because  "he  has  for  clothing  the  very 
solid  stone  of  the  sky."  Like  Varuna,  like 
Zeus,  the  lightning  is  in  his  hands,  "the  molten 
brass  which  he  causes  to  flow  down  on  the  two 
worlds ;  "  like  them  he  is  the  father  of  the  god 
of  lightning,  Atar.  Lastly,  the  most  ancient 
historical  evidence  confirms  the  inductions  of 
mythology,  as  at  the  very  time  when  the  Achse- 
menian  kings  proclaim  the  sovereignty  of  Aura- 
mazda,  Herodotus  wrote:  "The  Persians  offer 
up  sacrifices  to  Zeus,1  going  up  on  the  highest 
summit  of  the  mountains,  as  they  call  Zeus  the 
entire  orb  of  the  sky." 

Thus  the  supreme  gods  of  the  four  great 
religions  of  Greece,  of  Italy,  of  India,  and  of 
Persia,  are  at  the  same  time,  or  have  begun  by 
being,  gods  of  the  skies.  By  the  side  of  these 
four,  Svarogu,  the  god  of  the  ancient  pagan 
Slavs,  should  no  doubt  equally  be  placed.  Like 
Zeus,  like  Jupiter,  like  Varuna,  like  Ahura 
Mazda,  he  is  the  master  of  the  universe,  the 
gods  are  his  children,  and  it  is  from  him  that 
they  have  received  their  functions;  like  them 
1  That  is  to  say,  "  to  their  Supreme  God." 


298  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

he  is  the  god  of  the  heavens,  he  is  the  thun- 
derer,  and  like  them  he  is  the  father  of  the 
Fire,  Svarojitchi,  "the  son  of  heaven."1 

HIS   ORIGIN.2 

How  did  the  god  of  the  heavens  become  the 
organizing  god,  the  supreme  God,  the  moral 
God  ?  How  was  the  abstract  conception  grafted 
on  the  naturalistic  conception?  What  is  the 
connection  between  his  material  attribute  and 
his  abstract  function?  The  Vedas  give  the 
solution  of  this  problem. 

As  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  it  can  never 
reach  beyond  the  sky;  whatever  is,  is  under 
the  immense  vault;  all  that  which  is  born  and 
dies,  is  born  and  dies  within  its  bounds.  Now, 
whatever  takes  place  in  it,  takes  place  accord- 
ing to  an  immutable  law.  The  dawn  has  never 
failed  to  appear  at  her  appointed  place  in  the 
morning,  never  forgotten  where  she  is  to  appear 
again,  nor  the  moment  at  which  she  is  to  reani- 
mate the  world.  Darkness  and  light  know  their 
appointed  hour,  and  always  at  the  desired  mo- 
ment "the  black  One  has  given  way  to  the 
white."  Linked  together  by  the  same  chain  in 
the  endless  path  open  before  them,  they  follow 
their  way  onwards,  the  two  immortals,  directed 
by  a  God,  absorbing  each  other's  tints.  The 

1  G.  Kick,  Einleitung  in  die  Slavische  Literatur-Geschichte. 

2  See  Ormazd  et  Ahriman,  §§  62  sq. 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  299 

two  fertile  sisters  do  not  clash  with  one  another ; 
they  never  stop,  dissimilar  in  form,  but  alike  in 
spirit.  Thus  run  the  days  with  their  suns,  the 
nights  with  their  stars,  season  following  season. 
The  sky  has  always  in  regular  course  ushered 
in  by  turn  the  day  and  the  night.  The  moon 
has  always  lit  up  at  the  fixed  hour.  The  stars 
have  always  known  where  they  should  go  during 
the  day.  The  rivers  have  always  flowed  into 
the  one  ocean  without  making  it  full. 

This  universal  order  is  either  the  motion  of 
the  heavens,  or  it  is  the  action  of  the  God  of 
heaven,  according  as  we  think  of  the  body  or 
the  soul,  and  view  in  the  heavens  the  thing  or 
the  God.  Thus,  in  the  Rig- Veda,  to  say 
"everything  is  in  Varuna,"  —  that  is,  "in  the 
heavens"  —  and  to  say  "everything  is  through 
Varuna"  —  that  is,  "through  the  heaven-God" 
—  are  one  and  the  same  thing;  and  in  these 
formulae  of  the  Veda,  so  clear  in  their  uncer- 
tainty, theism  is  ever  found  side  by  side  with 
unconscious  pantheism,  of  which  it  is  only  an 
expression.  "The  three  heavens  and  the  three 
earths  rest  in  Varuna,"  says  a  poet,  and  imme- 
diately afterwards,  giving  personality  to  his 
God :  "  It  is  the  skillful  king  Varuna  who  makes 
this  golden  disc  shine  in  heaven."  The  wind 
which  whistles  in  the  atmosphere  is  his  breath, 
,nd  all  that  exists  from  one  world  to  the  other 
was  created  by  him.  "From  the  king  Varuna 


300  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

come  this  earth  below,  and  yonder  heaven,  too, 
these  two  worlds  with  remote  limits;  the  two 
seas  are  the  belly  of  Varuna,  and  he  rests  also 
even  in  the  small  pool  of  water." 

This  pantheistic  theism,  which  makes  no  clear 
distinction  between  the  God  of  heaven  and  the 
universe  over  which  he  rules,  or  which  is  com- 
prised in  him,  penetrates  Jupiter  as  well  as 
Varuna.  The  Latin  poets  offer  the  equivalent 
of  the  vacillating  formula  of  Vedism.  "The 
mortals,"  says  Lucretius,  explaining  the  origin 
of  the  idea  of  God,  — "  the  mortals  saw  the 
regular  motions  of  the  heavens  and  the  various 
seasons  of  the  year  succeed  each  other  in  a  fixed 
order,  without  being  able  to  discover  the  causes. 
They  had,  therefore,  no  other  alternative  than 
to  attribute  all  to  the  gods,  who  made  every- 
thing go  according  to  their  will,  and  it  was  in 
the  sky  that  they  placed  the  seat  and  domain 
of  the  gods,  because  it  is  there  that  may  be 
seen  revolve  the  night  and  the  noon,  the  day 
and  the  gloomy  planets  of  the  night;  the  noc- 
turnal lights  wandering  in  the  sky,  and  the 
flying  flames,  the  clouds,  the  sun,  the  rain,  the 
snow,  the  winds,  the  thunderbolts,  the  hail,  the 
sudden  convulsions,  and  the  great  threatening 
rumblings."1 

1  "  Praeterea,  coeli  rationes  ordine  certo 

Et  varia  annorum  cernebant  tempora  vorti ; 
Nee  poterant  quibus  id  fieret  cognoscere  oausis. 
Ergo  perfugium  sibi  habebant  omnia  Diveis 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  301 

This  view  of  the  heavens  as  the  universal 
centre  of  the  movements  of  Nature  might  just  as 
well  have  led  to  pantheism  as  to  theism.  The 
line  of  the  poet,  "Juppiter  est  quodcunque 
vides,  quocunque  moveris  "  —  "Jupiter  is  every- 
thing that  thou  seest,  everywhere  that  thou 
mo  vest,"  —  does  not  refer  only  to  the  Jupiter 
of  the  metaphysicians  of  the  Porch;  it  also 
expresses  one  of  the  aspects  of  the  Jupiter  of 
primitive  mythology.  It  was  not  by  a  devia- 
tion from  his  earlier  nature  that  Zeus  was  con- 
founded with  Pan ;  he  was  Pan  by  birth ;  and 
if  the  epopee  and  the  drama  show  us  only  a 
personal  Zeus,  it  is  because  by  their  very  na- 
ture they  could  and  should  see  him  only  under 
this  aspect,  and  had  nothing  to  obtain  from  the 
impersonal  Zeus,  although  in  this  form  he  was 
as  old  as  in  the  other.  And  the  Orphic  theo- 
logian is  not  quite  unfaithful  to  the  earlier  tra- 
dition of  religion,  when  he  sings  of  the  univer- 
sal Zeus : — 

"  Zeus  was  the  first,  Zeus  is  the  last,  Zeus  the  thunderer; 
Zeus  is  the  head,  Zeus  is  the  middle  ;  it  is  by  Zeus  that 
all  things  are  made  ; 

Tradere,  et  ollorum  nutu  facere  omnia  flecti. 
In  cceloque  Deum  sedes  et  templa  locarunt, 
Per  coelum  volvi  quia  nox  et  luna  videtur, 
Luna,  dies,  et  nox  et  noctis  signa  severa, 
Noctivagseque  faces  cceli,  flammaeque  volantes, 
Nubila,  sol,  imbres,  nix,  ventei,  fulmina,  grando, 
Et  rapidei  fremitus,  et  murmura  iiiagna  minarum." 

—  v.  1182. 


302  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

Zeus  is  the  male,  Zeus  is  the  immortal  female ; 

Zeus  is  the  base  of  both  the  earth  and  the  starry  sky  ; 

Zeus  is  the  breath  of  the  winds,  Zeus  is  the  jet  of  the  un- 
conquerable flame  ; 

Zeus  is  the  root  of  the  sea,  Zeus  is  the  sun  and  the 
moon.  .  .  . 

The  whole  of  this  universe  is  stretched  out  within  the 
great  body  of  Zeus." 

In  the  same  manner,  although  Persia  has  in 
general  preserved  the  personality  of  her  Su- 
preme god,  yet  she  suffers  him,  especially  in 
the  sects,  to  become  confounded  with  the  Infin- 
ity of  matter  through  which  he  first  revealed 
himself  to  the  mind  of  his  worshipers.  After 
having  invoked  the  heavens  as  the  body  of 
Ahura  Mazda,  the  most  beautiful  of  bodies, 
she  placed  above  Ahura  himself,  and  before 
him,  the  luminous  space,  where  he  manifests 
himself,  what  the  theologians  called  "the  Infi- 
nite light,"  and  then  by  a  new  and  higher  ab- 
straction declared  Space1  to  have  been  at  the 
beginning  of  the  world.  Between  this  wholly 
metaphysical  principle  and  the  naturalistic  prin- 
ciple of  the  primitive  religion,  there  is  only  the 
distance  of  two  abstractions:  Space  is  only 
the  bare  form  of  the  luminous  Infinite,  and  the 
luminous  Infinite,  again,  is  an  abstraction  from 
the  Infinite  and  luminous  sky,  which  was  iden- 
tical with  Ahura. 

1  In  other  systems,  having  regard  to  the  eternity  of  the  God 
and  no  longer  to  his  immensity,  boundless  Time  became  the 
first  principle  (Zarvan  Akaraua). 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  303 

Thus,  according  as  the  heavens  were  consid- 
ered as  the  seat  or  as  the  cause  of  things,  the 
god  of  the  heavens  became  the  matter  of  the 
world  or  the  demiurge  of  the  world.  From 
the  period  of  Aryan  unity,  he  was  without 
doubt  the  one  and  the  other  in  turn ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  the  theistic  conception  was  more 
clearly  defined  than  the  other,  as  is  the  case  in 
the  derived  mythologies;  it  has,  besides,  deeper 
roots  in  the  human  heart  and  human  nature, 
which  in  every  movement  and  in  every  phenom- 
enon sees  a  Living  Cause,  a  Personality. 

This  god  of  the  heavens,  having  organized 
the  world,  is  all  wisdom ;  he  is  the  skilled  arti- 
san who  has  regulated  the  motion  of  the  worlds. 
His  wisdom  is  infinite,  for  of  all  those  myste- 
ries which  man  tries  in  vain  to  fathom  he  has 
the  key,  he  is  the  author.  But  it  is  not  only 
as  the  Creator  of  the  world  that  he  is  omni- 
scient; he  knows  all  things,  because,  being  all 
light,  he  sees  all  things.  In  the  naturalistic 
psychology  of  the  Aryans,  to  see  and  to  know, 
light  and  knowledge,  eye  and  thought,  are  sy- 
nonymous terms.  With  the  Hindoos,  Varuna 
is  omniscient  because  he  is  the  Infinite  light; 
because  the  sun  is  his  eye;  because  from  the 
height  of  his  palace,  with  its  pillars  of  red 
brass,  his  white  looks  command  the  world; 
because  under  the  golden  mantle  that  covers 
him,  his  thousands,  his  myriads  of  spies,  active 


304  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

and  untiring  agents,  sunbeams  during  the  day, 
stars  during  the  night,  search  out  for  him  all 
that  which  exists  from  one  world  to  the  other, 
with  eyes  that  never  sleep,  never  blink.  And 
in  the  same  way,  if  Zeus  is  the  all-seeing,  the 
TravoTTTT/s,  it  is  because  his  eye  is  the  sun,  this 
universal  witness,  the  infallible  spy  of  both 

gods  and  men  ($eoiv  a-Koirbv  i/Se  Kal  dvOpoiv.).  The 
light  knows  the  truth,  it  is  all  truth;  truth 
is  the  great  virtue  which  the  god  of  heaven 
claims;  and  lying  is  the  great  crime  which  he 
punishes.  In  Homer,  the  Greek,  taking  an 
oath,  raises  his  eyes  towards  the  expanse  of 
heaven  and  calls  Zeus  and  the  sun  to  witness; 
in  Persia,  the  god  of  heaven  resembles  in  body 
the  light,  and  in  soul  the  truth ;  Aryan  moral- 
ity came  down  from  heaven  in  a  ray  of  light. 

HIS   DESTINY. 

Thus,  the  Indo-European  religion  knew  a 
supreme  God,  and  this  God  was  the  God  of  the 
heavens.  He  has  organized  the  world  and  rules 
it^  because,  as  he  is  the  heaven,  all  is  in  him, 
and  all  passes  within  him,  according  to  his  law ; 
he  is  omniscient  and  moral,  because,  being 
luminous,  he  sees  all  things  and  all  hearts. 

This  god  was  named  by  the  various  names 
of  the  sky,  —  Dyaus,  Varana,  Svar,  —  which, 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  thought, 
described  either  the  object  or  the  person,  the 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  305 

heavens  or  the  God.  Later  on,  each  language 
made  a  choice,  and  fixed  the  proper  name  of 
the  God  on  one  of  these  words;  by  which  its 
ancient  value  as  a  common  noun  was  lost  or 
rendered  doubtful;  thus,  in  Greek  Dyaus  be- 
came the  name  of  the  heaven-god  (Zeus),  and 
Varana  (Ovpavos)  was  the  name  of  the  hea- 
vens, as  a  thing;  in  Sanskrit  Dyaus  or  ^a/- 
was the  material  heavens ;  the  heaven-god  was 
Varana  (later  changed  into  Varuna);  the  Slavs 
attached  to  the  word  Svar,  by  means  of  a  deri- 
vative, Svarogu,  the  idea  of  the  celestial  god; 
the  Romans  made  the  same  choice  as  the  Greeks 
with  their  Jup-piteri  and  set  aside  the  other 
names  of  the  heavens;  lastly,  Persia  described 
the  god  by  one  of  his  abstract  epithets,  the 
Lord,  Ahura,  and  obliterated  the  external 
traces  of  his  former  naturalistic  character. 

This  god,  who  reigned  at  the  time  of  the 
breaking  up  of  the  religion  of  Aryan  unity, 
was  carried  away,  with  the  various  religions 
which  sprang  up  from  it,  to  the  various  regions 
where  chance  brought  the  Aryan  migrations. 
Of  the  five  religions  over  which  he  ruled,  three 
remained  faithful  to  him  to  the  last,  and  only 
forsook  him  at  the  moment  when  they  them- 
selves perished ;  —  they  are  those  of  the  Greeks, 
of  the  Romans,  and  of  the  Slavs,  with  whom 
Zeus,  Juppiter,  and  Svarogu  preserved  the  titles 
and  attributes  of  the  supreme  god  of  the  Ar- 


306  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

yans,  as  long  as  the  national  religion  lasted. 
They  succumbed  to  Christ;  "  Heaven  -father " 
gave  way  to  the  "Father  who  is  in  Heaven." 

India,  on  the  contrary,  very  soon  forgot  that 
god  for  whose  origin  and  formation,  however, 
she  accounts  much  better  than  any  other  Aryan 
religion  does ;  and  it  was  not  a  foreign  god  who 
dethroned  him,  —  a  god  from  without,  —  but  a 
native  god,  a  god  of  his  own  family,  Indra,  the 
hero  of  the  tempest. 

In  fact,  the  supreme  god  of  the  Aryans  was 
not  a  god  of  unity;  the  Asura,  the  Lord,  was 
not  the  Lord  in  the  same  sense  as  Adonai. 
There  were  by  the  side  of  him,  within  himself, 
a  number  of  gods,  acting  of  their  own  accord, 
and  often  of  independent  origin.  The  wind, 
the  rain,  the  thunder;  the  fire  under  its  three 
forms  —  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  the  lightning 
in  the  cloud,  the  terrestrial  fire  on  the  altar; 
the  prayer  under  its  two  forms  —  the  human 
prayer,  which  ascends  from  the  altar  to  heaven, 
and  the  heavenly  prayer,  which  resounds  in  the 
din  of  the  storm,  on  the  lips  of  a  divine  priest, 
and  descends  from  the  heights  with  the  torrents 
of  libations  poured  from  the  cup  of  heaven,  all 
the  forces  of  nature,  both  concrete  and  abstract, 
appealing  at  once  to  the  eye  and  to  the  imagi- 
nation of  man,  were  instantly  deified.  If  the 
god  of  the  heavens,  greater  in  time  and  space, 
always  present  and  everywhere  present,  easily 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  307 

rose  to  the  supreme  rank,  carried  there  by  his 
double  Infinity,  yet  others,  with  a  less  continu- 
ous, but  more  dramatic  action,  revealing  them- 
selves by  sudden,  unexpected  events,  main- 
tained their  ancient  independence,  and  religious 
development  might  lead  to  their  usurping  the 
power  of  the  king  of  the  heavens.  Already 
during  the  middle  of  the  Vedic  period,  Indra, 
the  noisy  god  of  the  storm,  ascends  the  summit 
of  the  Pantheon,  and  eclipses  his  majestic  rival 
by  the  din  of  his  resounding  splendor. 

He  is  the  favorite  hero  of  the  Vedic  Rishis ; 
they  do  not  tire  of  telling  how  he  strikes  with 
his  bolt  the  serpent  of  the  cloud,  which  enfolds 
the  light  and  the  waters;  how  he  shatters  the 
cavern  of  Cambara,  how  he  delivers  the  captive 
Auroras  and  cows,  who  will  shed  torrents  of 
light  and  milk  on  the  earth.  It  is  he  who 
makes  the  sun  come  out  again;  it  is  he  who 
makes  the  world,  annihilated  during  the  night, 
reappear;  it  is  he  who  recreates  it,  he  who  cre- 
ates it.  In  a  whole  series  of  hymns  he  ascends 
to  the  side  of  Varuna,  and  shares  the  empire 
with  him;  at  last  he  mounts  above  him,  and 
becomes  the  Universal  King :  — 

"  He,  who,  as  soon  as  he  was  born,  a  god  of  thought, 
has  surpassed  the  gods  by  the  power  of  his  intellect,  he 
whose  trembling  made  the  two  worlds  quake  by  the 
power  of  his  strength,  —  O  man,  it  is  Indra  ! 

"He,  who  has  firmly  established  the  tottering  earth 


308  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

and  arrested  the  quivering  mountains  ;  he,  who  has  fixed 
the  extent  of  the  wide-stretching  atmosphere,  and  who 
has  propped  up  the  sky,  —  O  man,  it  is  Indra  ! 

"He,  who  after  slaying  the  serpent,  unpenned  the 
seven  rivers  ;  who  brought  forth  the  cows  from  their 
hidiug-place  in  the  cavern  ;  he,  who  by  the  clashing  of 
the  two  stones  has  engendered  Agni,  —  O  man,  it  is 
ludra  ! 

"  He,  who  made  all  these  great  things  ;  he,  who  struck 
down  the  demon  race,  driving  it  to  concealment  ;  he, 
who,  like  a  fortunate  gamester  who  wins  at  play,  carries 
off  the  wealth  of  the  impious,  —  O  man,  it  is  Indra  ! 

"  He,  who  gives  life  to  both  rich  and  poor,  and  to  the 
priest,  his  singer,  who  implores  him  ;  the  god  with  beau- 
tiful lips  ;  the  protecting  god  who  brings  the  stones  to- 
gether to  press  out  the  soma,  —  O  man,  it  is  ludra  ! 

"He,  who  has  in  his  hands  the  herds  of  horses  and 
cows,  the  cities  and  the  chariots  of  war  ;  he,  who  has 
created  the  Sun  and  the  dawn  ;  he,  who  rules  the  waters, 
—  O  man,  it  is  Indra  ! 

"  He,  who  is  invoked  by  the  two  contending  armies,  by 
the  enemies  facing  each  other,  either  triumphant  or 
beaten  ;  he,  whom,  when  they  meet  in  the  struggle  on  the 
same  chariot,  during  the  onslaught,  they  invoke  against 
each  other,  —  O  man,  it  is  Indra  ! 

"  He,  who  discovered  Cambara  in  the  mountains  where 
he  had  been  hidden  forty  years  ;  he,  who  killed  the  ser- 
pent in  his  full  strength,  who  struck  him  dead  on  the 
body  of  Danu,1 —  O  man,  it  is  Indra  f 

"  Heaven  and  earth  bow  down  before  him  ;  when  he 
shakes,  the  mountains  tremble  ;  the  drinker  of  soma, 
look  at  him  !  bearing  the  bolt  in  his  arm,  the  bolt  in  his 
hand,  —  O  man,  it  is  Indra  !  " 

But  the  usurper  does  not  enjoy  his  triumph 

1  His  mother. 


THE  SUPREME  GOD.  309 

long;  in  the  heat  of  his  victory  he  is  already 
stung  to  the  heart,  mortally  wounded  by  a  new 
and  mystic  power  which  is  growing  at  his  side, 
the  power  of  prayer,  of  sacrifice,  of  worship, 
of  Brahma,  whose  reign  begins  to  dawn  towards 
the  end  of  the  Vedic  period,  and  which  is  still 
in  existence. 

What  Indra  did  in  India  during  an  histori- 
cal period,  Perkun  and  Odin  did  in  a  prehis- 
torical  period,  the  one  among  the  Lithuanians, 
the  other  among  the  Germans.  Perkun  and 
Odin  are  the  Indras  of  these  two  nations,  and 
have  each  dethroned  the  god  of  the  heavens. 
Perkun  was  the  god  of  the  thunder  with  the 
Lithuanian  pagans,  and  one  can  recognize  in 
him  a  twin  brother  of  the  Hindoo  Parjanya, 
one  of  the  forms  of  the  god  of  the  storm  in 
Vedic  mythology.  This  king  of  the  Lithuanian 
Pantheon  is  a  king  of  recent  date ;  what  proves 
it  is  that  the  Slavs,  so  closely  related  to  the 
Lithuanians  in  their  beliefs,  as  well  as  in  their 
language,  and  who  also  knew  the  god  Perkun, 
have  still  as  their  supreme  god  the  supreme  god 
of  the  ancient  Aryan  religion,  the  god  of  the 
heavens,  Svarogu. 

The  same  revolution  took  place  in  Germany, 
but  in  a  more  remote  period.  The  god  of  the 
heavens  has  vanished;  he  is  replaced  by  the 
god  of  the  stormy  atmosphere,  Odin,  or  Wuo- 
tan,  the  Vata  of  India,  the  warrior  god  who  is 


310  THE  SUPREME  GOD. 

heard  in  the  din  of  the  tempest,  leading  his  di- 
sheveled bands  of  warriors,  or  letting  loose  on 
a  celestial  quarry  the  howling  packs  of  the  wild 
chase. 

Thus  did  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the 
Slavs  allow  their  god  to  be  vanquished  by  a 
foreign  god;  the  Germans,  the  Lithuanians, 
and  the  Hindoos  themselves  forsook  him  for 
an  inferior  creation.  Only  in  one  single  nation 
he  finds  worshipers  faithful  to  the  last.  They 
are  not  numerous,  but  they  have  not  allowed 
their  belief  to  be  encroached  upon  either  by 
time  or  by  man.  We  mean  the  few  thousands 
of  Ghebers  or  Parsis,  who,  during  the  great 
political  and  religious  shipwreck  of  Persia,  flee- 
ing before  the  victorious  sword  of  the  Prophet, 
kept  from  Islam  the  treasure  of  their  old  belief, 
and  who  to  this  day,  in  the  year  1879  of  the 
Christian  era,  in  the  fire  temples  in  Bombay, 
offer  up  sacrifices  to  the  very  same  god  who 
was  sung  by  the  unknown  ancestors  of  the  Ar- 
yan race  at  a  time  which  eludes  the  grasp  of 
history. 


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